It All Started With a Love Note
by thatredheadgirl
Summary: OLD STORY REDONE! Previously titled Secret Admirer. Brooke is secretly in love with Nathan and decides to tell him through a series of notes. R&R! Rated for Future Chapters.
1. Let the Games Begin

Author's Note: So here it is the first chapter of the new Secret Admirer story and I'm hoping that this one will be a little bit better and little bit longer.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea for the story.

Background for the story: Luke and Haley are dating and have been forever. Peyton and Nathan are together but not for long. Brooke and Peyton haven't really spoken since Peyton and Nathan started dating and Brooke is in love with Nathan.

Brooke sniffed and wiped at the tears that were falling down her face. It was the umpteenth night that she was crying over him and she was tired of it. She was tired of watching him and her "best" friend happy and having what she didn't have. She wished that she could be the one that he was always smiling at and being all touchy feely with. She sighed and sat up figuring she might as well get some homework done since she had nothing else to do on a Friday night since she stopped going to the weekly party. She picked up her bag but lost her grip and her bag fell to the floor everything spilling to the floor. Sighing she got up and began picking up her school books and various papers that had fallen out of her bag. She picked up her poem for English and began to read it. She looked at the grade and wasn't surprised she got an 'A' because it was about Nathan. She was sitting in gym watching him play with the other basketball guys and whenever she thought about Nathan was when she did her best work for English or her Creative Writing class. She sighed and leaned back against her bed still holding the piece of paper in her hand when a light bulb went off above her head. She went to her computer, redid her poem, and printed it off.

She grabbed her bag and left her room in search of a certain Scott household. On her way out of her house she ran into Luke. "Wow you're smiling! What happened?" He asked wondering what she was on that would put her in a good mood after being in a bad mood for almost a year. Brooke smiled at her best friend and threw her arm around his shoulder.

"Well best friend, I have come up with a plan to finally tell Nathan how I feel about him so I can in your words, 'get on with my life.'"

"Really do tell."

"I need to stop by his house and drop this off." She replied holding up the pink envelope with Nathan's name written in cursive.

"Who wrote that?" He asked looking at it and knowing that it was not Brooke's handwriting.

"It's this awesome font I found while I was writing him my note."

"So how is this plan going to work?"

"I'm going to send him notes telling him how I feel and after a while I tell him."

"So you're going to play like a secret admirer game?"

"Exactly."

"How long are you going to wait until you tell him?" She opened her mouth to reply but shut it and looked at the calendar on her phone checking the dates.

"I'm going to tell him in a month and half from today."

"Okay."

"And please don't say anything to him if he asks."

"I won't say anything."

"I'm serious I have to do this." He nodded and pulled in front of Nathan's house.

"You know he's not home right?"

"That's the point. Here's where you come in."

"Okay?"

"Go to the door and tell his mom that you found this in your locker and it had Nathan's name on it. " Luke nodded and grabbed the envelope from her and began walking to the door. Brooke watched him talk to Deb and smiled when Deb let Luke in to hopefully put the note in Nathan's room. Moments later Luke returned and they drove off towards the café were Haley would be finishing up her shift and helping close up so they could have some coffee and cake like they did every Friday night since Brooke stopped partying.

Later that evening Nathan came home feeling a little depressed when he should've been in a great mood but no Peyton had finally decided to end it and then got drunk and began telling everyone how shitty of a boyfriend he was and how she never really cared about him. He peeled off his shirt and threw it in the hamper but it missed and landed on his dresser. When Nathan picked up the shirt he saw the pink envelope with his name on it on his dresser. He looked around the room wondering who had come into his room and dropped off the letter. He placed the shirt in the hamper and went over towards his bed turning the envelope over a couple of times in his hands. He gently ripped it open and unfolded the paper inside.

_Nathan-_

_I got your runaway smile in my piggybank baby  
Gonna cash it right in for a new Mercedes  
You were worth the hundred thousand miles  
But you couldn't stay awhile  
I got your little brown shirt in my bottom drawer baby  
And your little white socks in the top drawer  
You were always leaving your shit around  
_

_And gone without a sound_

Yeah I'm the first to fall and the last to know  
Where'd you go?

Now I'm heels over head  
I'm hangin' upside down  
Thinking how you left me for dead  
California bound

I got a first class ticket to a night all alone  
And a front row seat up right by the phone  
Cause you're always on my mind  
And I'm running out of time  
I've got your hair on my pillow and your smell in my sheets  
And it makes me think about you with the sand in your feet  
Is it all you thought it'd be?  
You mean everything to me

But I'm the first to fall and the last to know  
And where'd you go?

Now I'm heels over head,  
I'm hangin' upside down  
Thinking how you left me for dead  
California bound  
And when you hit the coast  
I hope you think of me  
And how I'm stuck here with the ghost of what we used to be

You're burnin' bridges baby  
Burnin' bridges, making wishes  
Yeah you're burnin' bridges baby  
Burnin' bridges, making wishes  
You're burnin' bridges baby  
Burnin' bridges, making wishes  
Yeah you're burnin' bridges baby  
Burnin' bridges, making wishes

You're a chance taker, heartbreaker  
Got me wrapped around your finger  
Chance taker, heartbreaker  


_Got me wrapped around your finger_

I got your runaway smile in my piggybank baby  
Gonna cash it right in for a new Mercedes  
If I drive a hundred thousand miles  
Would you let me stay a while?

Now I'm heels over head,  
I'm hangin' upside-down  
Thinking how you left me for dead  
California bound  
And when you hit the coast  
I hope you think of me  
And how I'm stuck here with the ghost of what we used to be

_-Secret Admirer_

Nathan looked at the note and scratched the side of his head. Who in the world would have a crush on him and send him a love note? He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Luke's number. "Hello?"

"Hey are you busy?"

"Nope just got home."

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"You know you can always talk to me little brother."

"Alright I'll be over in like 10 minutes."

"Okay?" Luke pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it wondering what Nathan could have to talk to him about. Nathan walked up to Luke's door and knocked running a somewhat shaky hand through his hair. 'It can't get any worse right?' He thought to himself as Luke opened the door moving so Nathan could come in before shutting the door behind him. "What's up?"

"Well first Peyton and I are done."

"Yeah okay." Luke automatically replied not believing that it would last that long.

"No I'm serious for good. She's too much for me and I need someone who's not depressed all the time."

"That's all you came over for?"

"No, actually I was wondering if you had any idea about this." He replied pulling the letter out of his pocket and handing it to Luke. Luke put on an interested look and unfolded the paper reading over the note. 'Wow who knew that Brooke had this in her.'

"Wow little brother you're lucky. Some pretty awesome sounding girl has a crush on you."

"Any idea who it is?"

"No." Luke watched his face fall a little bit and Luke instantly started debating if he should tell him or keep his promise to Brooke. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know who it is and maybe it's just a practical joke, so what should I do?"

"Just wait it out maybe you'll figure it out." Nathan nodded looking at the clock.

"Well I let you get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow at the café." Luke nodded watching Nathan leave before pulling out his phone and sending Brooke a text message. Brooke was sitting at her computer working on her homework when her phone buzzed in her pocket. _Hey Nate just stopped by and got your note I think he liked it, he and Peyt are done too btw.-Luke. _Brooke smiled and set her phone down going back to the screen in front of her.

Nathan lay on his bed looking at the letter in his hand wondering who would go to all the trouble of sending him a love note. He reread the letter over and over hoping that it would give him a clue as to who it was and fell asleep with the letter in his hand and a small smile on his face. Brooke also for the first time that night went to sleep with a smile on her face for the first time in a over a year. Maybe this little game was going to work out in her favor.


	2. A Whole New Feeling

The next morning Nathan woke up around 10:30 to find another note in his room but this time it was placed near his bed. He slowly sat up studying the envelope wondering how the person had gotten into his room and put the note there. Sighing he opened the envelope and pulled the letter out but before he could read it he looked at the clock and realized that he had to take a shower or else he was going to be late meeting Luke for lunch at the café.

Luke sat in the café chatting with Haley when Brooke walked in looking like she was in much better spirits today. He smiled and hoped that sending Nathan the notes would help her come out of her depression and be happy again. "Why are you in such a good mood this morning missy?" Haley questioned like the good 2nd mother/best friend she was.

"I decided to drop off another note at Nathan's house."

"You went to his house?" Luke asked amazed that she would run that big of a risk because Nathan's mom was never shy on telling anyone and everybody just how perfect for each other she thought Nathan and Brooke were.

"Of course not, I was with Jake and ya know he wanted to help so he went to the door under the disguise that he forgot his iPod the other night and his mom let him go get it from Nathan's room."

"What was this one about?" Haley asked glad that her shift had ended 10 minutes ago.

"Do you remember that song we heard on the radio like 3 weeks ago Bubbly?"

"I love that song!" Haley exclaimed a huge smile on her face.

"Well it kinda describes how I feel perfectly so I just wrote it out and gave it to him."

"Speak of the devil. Hey Nathan!" Luke called out making Brooke turn and watch Nathan walk into the café a look of confusion and happiness on his face.

"Hey." Nathan replied looking at Brooke as if he hadn't seen her in almost forever.

"Well since I know you guys want your guy time Brooke and I will go do something girly." Haley looked at Brooke who seemed to be relieved that she had given them an out so Brooke didn't have to be so close to Nathan, she was never really good with being so close to Nathan since she had come to terms with being in love with him.

"You guys don't have to go plus maybe Luke won't be so depressed if you're here." Nathan replied his eyes glued to Brooke.

"I do not get depressed." Both Nathan and Brooke turned towards him weird looks on their faces.

"Yeah ya do." They both replied catching the other off-guard and making the other laugh.

"Whatever." Haley just giggled and sat at the table next to Luke forcing Brooke and Nathan to sit on the same side. 'Way to be a good friend Hales.' Brooke thought as she took the chair across from Haley.

"Oh Nathan I heard about what happened last night with Peyton and I'm really sorry." Nathan just shrugged feeling Brooke's gaze fall on him.

"Wait what happened?" She asked since she just thought that they had just broken up again over something dumb.

"She and I broke up last night and then she started telling people I was a shitty boyfriend and all of that." Nathan replied casually as if it happened all the time.

"Well that's Peyton for you." Brooke replied accidently letting her true feelings for her 'best' friend slip. The other three looked at her as she looked down at her menu, Nathan being shocked that Brooke would say something like that about her best friend and Luke and Haley were shocked that she had said something like that to someone besides themselves. Haley looked up and saw how busy Karen was so she excused herself and got up rushing around to help. Brooke felt oddly out of place with the two Scott brothers. Luke noticed the tension between the two and started telling them a funny story about something that had happened in the locker room the night before after the game and Brooke and Nathan were leaning on each other they were laughing so hard.

They had finished their lunch and Haley had been relieved from helping Karen when Deb walked in so the gang decided to go back to Brooke's house and hang out there and since the weather was so nice they decided to go swimming. Nathan watched as Brooke, who was smiling more today than any other day he's seen her for the past o, 7 months, walked into her bathroom in jeans and a t-shirt and walked out wearing close to nothing. Her bikini covered all the areas it needed too but it also didn't leave much to the imagination. He shook his head breaking his gaze over her body before she turned away from the mirror and walked out winking at Nathan as she went downstairs and out to the pool.

Brooke smiled a huge smile when she walked out of the bathroom, she hoped that her bikini would grab Nathan's attention and her plan had worked when she felt his eyes trailing over her body and linger for a few moments. The moment was bitter-sweet though because she wanted Nathan to see her as someone to date not just a one night stand. Nathan followed close behind her in his classic swim trunks and she could feel his eyes on her.

Nathan felt like an ass, here it was not even a whole day after he and his on again off again girlfriend had broken up and he was already thinking about hooking up with her best friend. He knew all the rumors about Brooke going around the school and yet for some odd reason he couldn't picture her as the slut that she was made out to be. He could hear his mom in the back of his head telling him that they were perfect for each other and that he was bound to have feelings for her eventually.

Brooke and Nathan walked outside side by side laughing about how funny Luke and Haley looked like while they were arguing about if Luke felt like he needed sunscreen and Haley demanding he put it on. Nathan did have to admit that at times he was jealous of the relationship that Haley and Luke had because he wanted that kind of relationship. It felt like almost a lifetime ago when Luke and Haley had finally gotten together. Brooke watched Luke and Haley kiss and make up and for a moment she was jealous, she like Haley, wanted to be with the one guy she was in love with. She wanted to have their relationship but then she remembered that she happened to fall in love with the biggest player of Tree Hill High. She sighed as she rubbed the sunscreen Haley had tossed her over her legs. Nathan looked over at her as she sighed and the smile slipped from her face. He got a little disappointed when the smile fell from her face and then tried to do anything to make her smile. "Do you need some help getting your back?" Nathan found himself asking grabbing the attention of Brooke who seemed lost in her own world. She nodded handing him the bottle and moving her hair off of her back. Nathan went to work on her back and she had to bite back the moan from how good his hands felt. She left her mind wonder from his hands on her back and had to fight with herself not to imagine how great his hands would feel over her whole body. Nathan felt a rush of pride when he saw her smile as he rubbed sunscreen on her back and couldn't help but smile himself.

Brook thanked him as she stood up and forced him to turn around so she could return the favor and after making Nathan sit down in the chair she had just gotten up from so she could reach his back she squeezed the sunscreen onto his back. The minute Nathan felt Brooke's hands on his back he inwardly groaned thinking about anything but the feeling of her hands on her back so Nathan pictured his dad yelling at him during one of the their practices and he pushed all the feelings for Brooke out of his head. He stood up thanking her for helping him out and in a way to break the tension that fell between the two he decided to pick her up and throw her in the pool. She shrieked and tried to glare at Nathan but was smiling, it was probably the first time that she and Nathan had hung out since he and Peyton started dating that long year and a half ago. Nathan felt that weird feeling of pride when he made Brooke smile or something he said had made her laugh. He looked at Luke almost begging him to leave. Luke looked at Brooke and Nathan and then smiled at Haley. They seemed to be thinking about the same thing because she nodded at him and went back to talking to Brooke. Luke swam over towards Nathan and leaned against the wall of the pool.

"Dude you like her don't you?" Nathan who was starring at Brooke finally realized that Luke was next to him.

"What?" Nathan asked finally tearing his gaze from Brooke and looking at Luke.

"You like Brooke don't you?" He asked glancing over at his girlfriend and best friend who were leaning towards each other as they talked.

"You're crazy." Nathan replied now looking at his feet in the water.

"Says the guy who's been going out of his way to make her smile or laugh all afternoon and offered to put sunscreen on her back." Nathan looked at Luke and wanted to punch the smirk off of his face.

"I know it's odd for you to see a guy being nice to a girl that is his friend since your best friend also fucks you at night." Luke's smile slipped from his face and he glared at Nathan. "Didn't think I knew did ya? Well maybe you two shouldn't make it obviously next time." Nathan laughed and patted Luke on the shoulder. "But yeah me and Brooke we're just friends if you can even call it that." Luke nodded and turned so he was looking over at Haley and Brooke.

"So what's the next part of your plan?" Haley asked casting a glance at Luke and Nathan.

"Well as we speak right now Karen is dropping another note at Nathan's house."

"You've got Karen in on this too?" Haley asked a little shocked that Brooke had actually gotten Karen to help.

"Hey she's the one who told me to not let 'that backstabbing bitch to get the guy I love'."

"Wow who knew Karen had it in her?" Both girls were silent for a moment before they burst out laughing both silently agreeing that they knew that Karen had a mean streak in her. The girls talked for a little bit longer before Brooke had a brilliant idea.

"I think we should have a movie night!" She exclaimed as Nathan and Luke got out of the pool. Luke fell into the lounger that Haley was lying on and Nathan sat at the bottom of Brooke's.

"That sounds like fun." Nathan commented not having participating in a movie night since like freshman year. "We can have it at my house." Brooke agreed as she stood up and started walking back into the house.

"Alright then I guess everybody should head out and get ready for movie night at Nathan's." Haley said standing and grabbing all of her stuff.

"Hales and I will get the pizza so maybe you and Nathan could get the movies?" Luke asked looking between the two.

"That's fine." Nathan nodded also making plans to pick Brooke up around 4 to go and rent movies. After he left Brooke looked at Luke and shook her head. "I know what you're doing and stop. Let me do this." Luke faked innocence and left with his girlfriend both smiling triumphantly as they drove away from Brooke's house.

An hour later Brooke found herself sitting in Nathan's room waiting for him to finish showering and get dressed so they could go get the movies, his plan to come get her was ruined when he called at 4 and said that he had been playing video games and lost track of time so she drove herself over to his house and his mom ushered her into the house letting her hang out in Nathan's room until he was done. Nathan walked into his room and found Brooke sitting on his bed as if she was meant to be there. He shook his head ridding it of the thoughts that flooded his mind from her just sitting on his bed.

"Hey sorry about not coming to get you."

"It's okay I was wrapped up in my paper that I kinda lost track of time too."

"I just have to find a clean shirt and then we can go." Brooke nodded standing up and pulling her t-shirt down. Nathan finally took in what she was wearing and he should've known that she was going to wear her ridiculously short cheer shorts and Nathan yet again had to think about something other than her. He didn't know what was wrong with him but he was finding it hard to be in the same room with her by himself without a sexual thought entering his head. He turned around walked towards his closet when the pink envelope on his desk caught his eye. Brooke smiled to herself and walked over towards Nathan feigning curiousity.

"What's that?" She asked coming up behind Nathan and peering over his shoulder. He didn't answer her but instead opened the envelope and pulled the letter out.

_Nathan-_

_When you stand so close to me  
I'm feeling butterflies  
Is this the way that it supposed to be  
When I look into your eyes  
All you have to do is say my name  
Just a stutter more like butter  
Since I met you boy my whole worlds changed  
I can't hide this or deny this_

_Boy you got me catching feelings  
Got me thinking maybe you're the one  
I didn't understand the reason  
That my heart was beating like a drum  
I didn't understand the meaning  
Then you opened up my eyes to_

_A crazy little thing called love_

_My best friends tell me what's got into you_

_I say I can't explain  
These feelings I'm going through  
Tell me girl it's not like you to fall this way  
I try my best to wear a disguise  
But it's written on my face_

_Don't understand the meaning  
This means crazy baby  
I try my best not to show  
But you know its so crazy baby  
Crazy little thing called love_

_-Secret Admirer_

Brooke watched Nathan's face and smiled when he smiled but quickly put on a face of surprise and shock as he put the letter back in the envelope and put it in the drawer with the other two letters he had gotten. "Wow Nathan you're one lucky guy."

"Yeah I would be if I knew who it was." Brooke nodded inwardly feeing like the sun was finally shining on her.

"Eh who knows the person could be someone right in front of you." Nathan nodded hoping that it was someone he knew. "Well let's go find some movies before Luke and Haley get here."

A/N: So there's the second chapter and I hope you liked it. The notes were "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" by Rihanna.


	3. Movie Night

Brooke and Nathan stood in the middle of the movie store completely lost as to what kind of movie they should get. Nathan knew that Brooke would want to get some sappy chick flicks and Brooke knew that Nathan would want to get a sports movie or an action flick with too much blood. Both looked everywhere but at each other as each tried to come up with a plan on what to do. "Alright this is ridiculous. I don't wanna watch a sappy chick flick where everyone is in love." Nathan began finally looking at Brooke after being in the movie store for almost 10 minutes.

"And I don't wanna watch an action movie." Brooke replied standing her ground.

"So let's make a deal." Nathan proposed after another long silence.

"I'm listening." She replied turning so she was facing him obvious to all the people around her watching them with curious glances.

"You pick a movie that isn't a chick flick and I'll pick a movie that isn't an action movie." Brooke nodded and walked away from Nathan with a small smile on her face. Nathan walked away with another plan on his mind. He quickly pulled out his phone sending Luke a text message while he looked through the selves.

Luke nearly fell out of his car when Nathan sent him a text message asking what Brooke's favorite movie was, as his vision blurred with tears of laughter Haley pulled the phone away from him and smiled at how cute Nathan was being. She quickly replied and knew that they were going to be in for a great night. Back at the movie store both Brooke and Nathan rented their movies without the other one seeing the title since they wanted it to be a surprise.

Luke and Haley were sitting in Nathan's living room when they got back and Luke had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing when the two walked in thinking that they had outsmarted the other. Haley hit him warning him with her eyes that he better be good or he was going to regret it. Brooke and Nathan looked between the couple and then back to each other wondering what was going on with them.

"Pizza will be here soon guys." Brooke nodded at Haley and looked around the room.

"Well if this is gonna be a great movie night I think we should get everything ready now so we don't have to keep getting up." Brooke said setting her movie down on the coffee table and looking at Nathan to help her. Nathan led the way into the kitchen and stood back when they got to the kitchen just there to answer questions of where certain things were since he was new to the whole movie night thing. Brooke moved around the kitchen piling everything on the counter in the middle of the kitchen remembering where things were from over the years of having parties at the house. When she was done she turned to Nathan and flashed him her mega-watt genuine smile. Nathan felt his pulse quicken when the corners of her mouth turned into a smile and for once Nathan felt like he could see exactly who the real Brooke Davis was. Luke, down the hallway with pizza boxes in hand, watched as Brooke and Nathan looked at each other trying to have a conversation with no words.

"Hey guys, pizza's here." Luke called wondering if he had seen anger in Nathan's eyes when he looked at him. Brooke sighed as she yet again followed Nathan as they walked back into the living room each cursing Luke out in their heads for different reasons. Nathan sat down on the couch and set the cases of pop on the coffee table next to the bags of candy that Brooke had set down moments before. Nathan looked over at Brooke yet again feeling his pulse quicken and his mind wander to that forbidden place that Nathan shouldn't even think about going to with Brooke. Brooke felt his eyes on her and sighed, he was probably wondering why she was sitting so close to him. She looked at Haley and Luke and softly sighed, they looked so happy together leaning on each other and talking quietly between them, and yet again she wished she had that. Nathan faintly heard her sigh and looked over at her again following where her gaze was and wanted to sigh too, he loved his brother and Haley but sometimes they could be too much.

The movie started and Brooke's mood was instantly lifted when she saw the title of the movie. She looked over at Nathan who seemed to be looking everywhere but her. She nudged him with her shoulder and pointed the screen. He smiled and leaned over so only she could hear him. "I thought that maybe if you got to watch your favorite movie you would be in a better mood." She looked at him and wondered if he had picked up on her mood and feelings of longing when looking at Luke and Haley. For a moment Brooke got her hopes up thinking that maybe just maybe Nathan shared her feelings but when he broke the intense gaze they had and pulled his phone out of his pocket she hoped that her smile hadn't fallen that much for him to notice. He knew that moment his phone buzzed in his pocket that it was Tim and he saw Brooke's smile fall a little bit out of the corner of his eye and wanted to kick himself. He looked at the text message from Tim and without thinking it through Nathan told him that he was doing something else and would talk to him later. He looked over at Brooke and decided to turn his phone off watching Brooke smile a little bit more.

After they had finished two movies Nathan stood up and decided that he needed to stretch and move around before they put in the other two. He looked over at Brooke who had turned away from him and lay on the couch with her upper body lying on the couch and her legs still looked like she was sitting. Nathan sat back down and gently nudged her legs grabbing her attention. She sat up rubbing her eyes making Nathan think that she had fallen asleep during the second movie. "You can spread out on the couch I'll sit on the floor."

"No I'm fine now." She replied stretching her arms above her head making her shirt rise up her stomach a little bit. Nathan shook his head and forced himself to not look at her perfectly toned and tanned stomach.

"That movie was a little boring." He admitted wanting to fill the silence between them.

"Well I had to pick it for Haley so I put up with it." He nodded understanding just how deep her friendship with Haley actually went. 'Just like her and Peyton.' He thought as Haley came back from the bathroom and resumed her spot on the floor with Luke a few feet away from the Brooke and Nathan. Brooke looked at Luke who nodded and put in the next movie and Brooke anxiously awaited Nathan's reaction to the movie and smiled when his mouth fell open. 'No one knows my favorite movie but Luke.' Luke looked at Nathan and shook his head looking at Brooke for a moment before going back to the screen. He looked over at Brooke who was smiling at him and for a moment he felt his heart melt. He was seriously starting to like Brooke and to be honest the thought scared the crap out of him. She leaned over her hot breath tickling his ear. "I thought that you would enjoy watching your favorite movie after the whole Peyton thing." He looked at her and smiled seeing a whole different side of Brooke that he had never seen in the time that he and Peyton were together. As the movie went on Brooke felt herself getting tired which was unusual for her on a Saturday since she was usually up most of the night anyway but looking at the clock she was shocked to find out that it was only 8:30. Nathan looked over at Brooke who was fighting to stay awake and grabbed a blanket that was thrown on the floor and moved down the couch so she could have more room and draped the blanket over her. Brooke smiled and laid on the couch using Nathan as a pillow as she finally gave into sleep. Luke looked up and saw Brooke lying on Nathan and Nathan absentmindedly running his hand through her hair and nudged Haley motioning for her to look at Nathan. Haley looked up and smiled before lying her back on Luke's shoulder and going back to watching the movie.

The next morning Nathan woke up on the couch with the blanket that he had put over Brooke thrown over him and Brooke, who was lying on top of him. He smiled and ran a hand through her hair suddenly assaulted with how good it felt to wake up with her. She stirred a few moments later and sat up shocked and confused as to how in the course of the night she wound up on top of Nathan. Nathan chuckled at the look on her face but on the inside he was little hurt that she freaked out like that. "Are you okay?"

"How did we end up together on the couch?" She asked without thinking about it hoping that she didn't do anything while she was sleeping.

"You fell asleep and then I guess I fell asleep and here we are."

"Oh okay." She looked at Nathan and smiled one of her heart melting smiles, feeling better that she didn't do something stupid, and she stood up walking over to the bathroom. Nathan looked over at Luke and Haley who were slowly stirring awake and thanked the lord that they didn't wake up and see Nathan and Brooke like that. After Brooke and Haley had made breakfast, Brooke and Haley left claiming that they had homework to do and left the two Scott brothers to themselves. They had decided to go outside and play some basketball to just hang out and relax before school and practice started again tomorrow.

Haley and Brooke sat in her room, Brooke anxiously sitting on her bed while Haley read the next note that Brooke was gonna give Nathan. Haley looked up and smiled at Brooke silently telling her that it was good and that she should give it to him. Brooke nodded and grabbed the letter before leaving and heading back over to Nathan's. This time though, she wasn't lying about leaving something there because she had actually left her sweatshirt there the night before and she could just slip it in his backpack knowing that he had math homework to do so when she got to Nathan's she slipped into his house and walked over to his backpack she slipped it into his math book as she grabbed her sweatshirt and left his house.

After spending 3 hours outside playing one on one with Luke Nathan tiredly made his way into the house and grabbed his backpack heading up to his room to start his homework before it got too late and he lost the motivation to actually do it. He pulled out his math book and a pink envelope fell out, Nathan smiled and picked up the envelope finding his heart racing like it had when Brooke smiled at him.

_Nathan-_

_I try but I can't seem to get myself to think of anything but you  
So I won't ask for more  
I wanna be with you  
If only for a night  
To be the one who's in your arms to hold you tight  
I wanna be with you  
There's nothing more to say  
There's nothing else I want more than to feel this way  
I wanna be with you  
So I'll hold you tonight like I would if you were mine to hold forevermore  
And I'll savor each touch that I've wanted so much to feel before,  
How beautiful it is  
Just to be like this  
Oh, baby  
I can't fight this feeling anymore  
Drives me crazy when I try to  
So call my name and take my hand  
Can you make my wish, baby, your command?_

_-Secret Admirer_

Nathan folded the letter and put it back in the envelope the wonder of who was his secret admirer taking over his mind as he put the letter with the other ones. He smiled to himself as he opened his math book and started to do his homework. The need to know who his secret admirer was began to take over his mind.

Author's Note: The Note in this chapter is "I Wanna Be With You" By Mandy Moore and Nathan has feelings for Brooke? What's going to happen there? Stay Tuned!


	4. Being Friends

Disclaimer: Since I forget to do this I don't own anything but the story idea.

A/N: Thx to all those that take the time to review this story and those that just stop by and read it!

Brooke walked into school feeling pretty amazing, she had spent the better part of the weekend with Nathan and it was the best weekend she had had in the longest time. She looked around the empty hallway and smiled, today was going to be a good day. She grabbed the pink envelope in her bag and walked over to Luke's locker slipping it in one of the vents at the top. As she walked back to her locker the smile on her face grew wider.

Later that morning Luke walked up to his locker with Nathan and when the pink envelope fell out of his locker Nathan picked it up smiling as he grabbed his books. "How did you that it wasn't for me?" Luke asked amazed at how Nathan went from being pissed about running into Peyton to happy over a pink envelope.

"I know it's not for you because your girlfriend would kill any girl that thought about sending you a note in your locker." Luke laughed and nodded knowing that Haley would kill any girl for even thinking about him as more than just Lucas Scott Haley's best friend and boyfriend. Moments after the laughter died down between the two brothers Haley and Brooke walked up making Nathan laugh all over again. Brooke looked at him quizzically and he shook his head saying something about telling her later.

"Come on Luke we have to get to class." Haley whined hating it when Luke too forever at his locker, she liked being early for class. Luke shook his head and shut his locker nodding his head at Nathan and Brooke before allowing Haley to drag him off to class. The first few moments after they left were awkward between Brooke and Nathan but when Brooke smiled at Nathan the awkwardness was broken as Nathan felt his pulse quicken.

"I had fun this weekend." He commented as they made their way to their English class.

"I did too."

"Movie night was the best part." Nathan commented wondering if she would pick up on what he was actually saying or if she was just going to let it go over her head. Brooke turned towards him after they took their seats and smiled one of her sexy innuendo smiles.

"Yeah it was the highlight of the weekend." Nathan chuckled a little bit before the teacher walked in and silence filled the room. Nathan pulled the pink envelope out his pocket and while the teacher was going over the test that they just took he opened the envelope scanning the letter.

_Nathan,_

_I wake up  
Thoughts of you  
Tattooed to my mind_

_As I wonder  
What to wear  
What to eat  
Who to be  
Will I see you again  
And as my car breaks down  
I shake my head and say  
What a day _

_Every bus, every train,  
Every cab, every lane is JAMMED  
So I looked to the sky  
And I reached for the planes with my hands_

_If all my days go wrong  
I'll think about last night  
It went right_

_If you only knew  
What I went through just to get to you  
I'm hanging from you  
And I'll hold on if you want me to  
If you only knew  
What I went through just to get to you  
I'm swinging from you  
And there's nothing I would rather do_

_-Secret Admirer_

Nathan smiled as he slipped the letter into his pocket and tuned back into what the teacher was talking about completely missing the smile on Brooke's face as a sense of triumph washed over her. 'Maybe he might actually have feelings for me.' She thought as the bell rang and Nathan got up leaving the room.

Nathan threw his books in his locker and went into the gym holding the door open for Brooke before going over to Luke who was talking about something with Jake. "Hey sorry to interrupt but I need to talk to you." Nathan said looking at Luke and the look on Nathan's face made Luke a little worried. Jake excused himself and went over to talk to Brooke and Haley leaving the two alone.

"What's up little brother?"

"I have a small problem."

"What?"

"Well I think I have feelings for Brooke."

Luke thought about it for a moment before answering. "Okay not seeing a problem here."

"Hello do you not remember that I kinda have a girl that's totally into me and I have no idea who it is."

"Oh yeah forgot about it." Luke said faking stupidity biting his tongue because he wanted to tell Nathan that is was in fact Brooke sending him the letters but Luke couldn't break his promise to Brooke. "Well just test the waters a little bit, you don't have to pick one right now so relax." Nathan nodded watching Brooke and Haley laugh at something Jake said. Luke followed Nathan's gaze and wanted to sigh out loud, why couldn't Brooke just tell him that she was the one sending him the notes because then both would be happy and not having such long lasting depressions.

During P.E. Nathan and Brooke kept going back and forth flirting with each other like crazy and for a while everything was good until Tim stupidly brought up Peyton and Brooke clammed up after that making Nathan wonder what exactly went down because from what Peyton had told him, Brooke was too busy being a whore to actually care about her best friend. Brooke was having a good time talking and laughing with Nathan but the minute that Tim had brought up Peyton she felt her heart break. It was a bitter reminder that Peyton had won out over her and that she was technically moving in on Peyton's leftovers. She excused herself from the group and walked over towards Bevin and Rachel who were talking about something that Bevin had no clue about judging by the look on her face.

Nathan watched Brooke walk away and wanted to kick Tim, he just had to ruin the almost perfect moment between Nathan and Brooke. He looked at Luke who had a puzzled look on his face looking between Brooke and Nathan. Nathan motioned to Tim and Luke nodded thinking that Tim had made a sexual comment about Brooke and that forced Brooke to walk away like she usually did with Tim but when he saw the hurt and pained expression on her face and the smile she wore didn't even reach the corner of her eyes. Tim walked away as soon as he saw an unhappy Luke walking towards Nathan and Nathan like Tim had wanted to walk away when Luke walked up.

"What the hell was said before Brooke walked away?"

"I don't know what pissed her off but Tim came up and was like so Nathan you and Peyton get back together yet and she walked away." Realization dawned on Luke and his unhappy expression changed to sadness. Nathan looked at Brooke and saw how fast her genuine smile had been replaced with a fake and forced smile. He sighed wondering what the hell had made her so upset but before he could ask Luke he had already walked away leaving Nathan to wonder what the hell was going on.

After P.E. Nathan walked into his math class and saw Brooke sitting in the back with her head down a bit almost as if she was pretending to be concentrating on her open math book. He sighed realizing that whenever he saw her sad he felt like he wanted to hurt whoever had hurt her but at the moment in time he realized that it was probably him. When Nathan sat down next to Brooke she looked up and smiled a smile that Nathan swore melted his heart and even made him smile. "I'm really sorry if anything that was said between me and Tim made you upset." She waved her hand in the air and smiled again a smile Nathan began to think she would only give to him.

"It's okay you don't have to explain anything about Tim."

"I know but I feel like I should apologize for him since I know he won't ever realize that anything he said was wrong."

"Thank you for caring so much about me that you felt the need to apologize for Tim but I just chalk it up to Tim being Tim."

"So we're good?" He asked not really wanting to not be able to talk to Brooke when he wanted to because Brooke was slowly becoming a good friend of Nathan's someone who he felt that he could take his problems to. Brooke leaned over towards Nathan's desk smiling a sultry smile.

"I'm always here for you Nate, if you need anything call me." She winked at him and went back to her desk acting as if she didn't just come onto Nathan. Nathan chuckled a little bit and opened his book trying to pay attention to what the teacher was saying and not the sexual innuendo that was playing over and over in his head.

Brooke looked over and smiled at Nathan as he smiled back at her not knowing that inside her heart was jumping inside her chest almost as if it was going to explode and she didn't know that his heart was racing and he almost left as if he couldn't breathe, damn smiles. As the teacher began to go over the next lesson Brooke couldn't stop her mind from going back to Sunday morning when she awoke in Nathan's arms leaving safe for the first time in the longest time. Nathan looked over and smiled as he saw the glazed over look on Brooke's face, he shook his head looking down at the notes he was taking and at the blank paper in front of her laughing quietly to himself.

When the bell rang Brooke was brought out of her own little world and realized that she hadn't paid one bit of attention to anything that was going on during class. Not realizing that Nathan was still next to her she sighed out loud and began gathering her things and muttering about how stupid she was under her breath. Nathan laughed as he waited for her to finish gathering her things and stuff them in her bag. Brooke stood up slowly still not registering that Nathan was walking in step with her and when she saw the blue of his t-shirt she nearly jumped out of her skin. "Geez Scott make some noise next time."

"Geez Davis, join the real world once in a while." He replied laughing at the shocked look on her face. "Since you spaced out during the whole lesson why don't you come over after practice and I'll help you with your math homework."

"What do I have to do for you?"

"Help me write my English assignment." Brooke stopped right in front of Nathan's locker and looked at him skeptically for a minute wondering if that was all he wanted from her but she knew that she needed help with math and if all she had to do was help Nathan with their English assignment then what did she have to lose?

"Alright we can meet after practice at my house." Nathan nodded and finished the walk to his locker while Brooke turned and walked over to her casting one more look at Nathan before shaking her head and grabbing her things for her next class.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on and on which Nathan blamed on his growing excitement over spending alone time with Brooke without Luke, Haley, or anyone there to interrupt if things happen to take a completely different route then just doing homework, not that Nathan would force the night into that kind of direction. Brooke walked into the locker room floating on cloud nine, not even the seeing Peyton could ruin her good mood, speaking of the curly blonde, she was making a b-line for Brooke and it looked like she had something to say. "I need to talk to you." Brooke nodded and walked a little bit away from the group of girls changing for practice.

"What's up Peyton?"

"You talk to Jake right?" Brooke nodded wondering where this line of questioning was going. "Is he seeing anyone?" Brooke shook her head no hoping that her not talking would speed up this conversation. "Oh okay thanks Brooke." Brooke nodded and walked away mentally reminding herself to talk to Jake about her conversation with Peyton.

Practice went off with a low amount of drama and when Brooke finally dismissed the girls for the day she decided to wait for the boys practice to be over before leaving the school and Brooke was glad that she had decided to stay because she got to see the boys play shirts vs. skins and Nathan just so happened to be on the skin side so Brooke was treated to a front row seat of Nathan's chiseled body glistening with sweat. Nathan looked over at Brooke watching him with a look in her eye that made Nathan's already pumping adrenaline pump even more. Whitey blew the whistle dismissing the boys from practice and Nathan made his way over to Brooke who was standing up and gathering her duffel bag and school bag. Nathan rushed over and grabbed the bags from her before she had an opportunity to object to his help. "So you ready for your math lesson with the best math tutor in the world?"

"I wouldn't let Haley hear you say that, you might have a tutor-off on your hands then." She joked walking with Nathan towards the boys' locker room.

"Alright, the second best math tutor ever."

"That's better and I'm looking forward to it maybe you can help me finally understand what goes on in that class."

"Then you better be ready to help me write the best short story ever so I can get my grade in English up."

"Nathan you're talking to the girl who has the only 100 in her Creative Writing class, you don't have to worry about your English grade after an evening with me." Nathan smiled and excused himself into the locker room to grab his duffel bag before walking out with Brooke.

"So I'm gonna go home and shower then I'll meet you at your house."

"Alright, why don't you give me your backpack so you don't forget it?" She joked making fun of Nathan's forgetfulness.

"No I'll remember it, see I'll put it in the front seat and won't take it out till I get to your house."

"Then you'll probably forget it when you come over."

"You're funny."

"I know, that's why I'm so damn lovable."

"That's not the only reason." Nathan muttered under his breath as he opened up Brooke's car down for her. She smiled in thanks and got in the car. "I'll see you at your house in like a half hour." She nodded and pulled out of the parking lot glad that Nathan hadn't seen the blush creep up her neck from his comment. Nathan smiled at her retreating car and got in his own smiling at his backpack as he drove towards his house.

A half hour later Nathan was at Brooke's door with his backpack and a pizza and Brooke laughed when she opened the door and the first thing out of Nathan's mouth was, "I didn't forget my backpack and I thought about getting a pizza on the way over here."

"I feel so special." She joked moving so that Nathan could come into his house. "Come on we're gonna work in the office." He nodded and waited for her to lead the way and as he followed he let his eyes wander down the back side of her body. Brooke smiled when she felt his eyes on her so she put an extra bounce in her step. "Alright math tutor let's get this over with because I'm ready for my headache."

"Trust me you won't get a headache from me helping you."

"One of us is gonna get a headache from this." Nathan just laughed and pulled out his math book and notebook setting the pizza down in front of them. After the napkins, plates, and drinks were 

placed by the pizza box Brooke got out her school stuff. Nathan took a deep breath and prepared himself for what was about to happen.

Nathan looked at the clock and was actually surprised that Brooke had gotten through most of their homework without many hassles but as Nathan saw her finish the last problem he knew that they still had his short story to work on. Brooke smiled in triumph as she finished her last problem and checked it against Nathan's homework which Nathan had finished long before Brooke had gotten through half the homework and as long as her answers matched Nathan's that is all that mattered. "See that wasn't hard." Nathan joked as he grabbed another piece of pizza a smile spread across his face.

"It made sense when you explained it and your notes helped."

"Well I'm always here to help." Brooke looked up from her book and smiled at Nathan happy that at least for now that friend thing was working between them. "Now let's get started on the really hard stuff, my short story."

"Well first off what do you want to write about?"

"That's where you come in." Brooke laughed and leaned back in her desk chair resting her can of Coke on her leg.

"Okay, so the story has to be about something that you're good at, something you love doing, or just something that you love and for you all those options are covered by the same thing." Nathan looked at her for a moment taken back by actually noticing what she was wearing for the first time in hours. "So I think to really benefit you and make your job easier you should write about your first basketball game."

"Yeah that's a really good idea." Nathan smiled and looked down at his blank paper not knowing where to start.

"Look why don't we make an outline so you can just go off of that?" Nathan nodded happy that she was going to help him. Brooke ended up helping Nathan with more than just his outline and by the time the clock struck midnight Nathan's short story was most of the way done and both Nathan and Brooke had fallen asleep against each other. Brooke woke up and smiled as she saw Nathan's head in her lap she ran her hand through his hair a couple of times before slowly getting up as to not wake Nathan up and moved out of the room taking his story with her. She sat at the kitchen table right in front of the office and began typing Nathan's story and finishing it for him before she quickly typed hers out.

Nathan woke up and found himself alone and sighed. The last thing he remembered was him falling asleep with Brooke's head on his shoulder the smile a mile wide on her face. He looked over at the clock adjusting his eyes so that he could actually read the green glaring numbers that were telling him that it was 2 o'clock in the morning. He looked at Brooke who was fast asleep with her head resting on the table her laptop open and in front of her. He walked over towards her looking at the screen in front of him and both of their stories were up and placed right next to each other. He was tempted to read hers but thought against it not wanting to pry into Brooke's private thoughts and instead grabbed the laptop and hooked it up to the printer printing both of their stories out. He then shut her laptop and went back into the kitchen putting his story in his backpack and hers in the folder marked for English before he picked her up and began walking her to her bedroom. As Nathan laid her down on the bed Brooke woke up taking in her surroundings and who was in her bedroom. "Shh, just go back to sleep." He pulled the covers over her lightly pushing the hair out of her face tempted to kiss her temple but his conscious won out and he just turned to leave the room. Brooke waited for his lips to make contact and when they didn't she felt disappointed in her groggy state. As Nathan turned Brooke's conscious mind kicked in knowing that Nathan had to be tired and she wasn't going to risk him making the almost 10 minute drive home this late at night with the drunk drivers running about and his tiredness her arm shot out grabbing his wrist and stopping him from leaving. Nathan turned the confusion and exhaustion written on his face.

"I don't want anything happening to you on the way home; you can just stay here the bed is big enough." Nathan thought about it for a moment before his exhausted mind took over and made his feet move towards the bed and without thinking he climbed into bed moving towards Brooke and cuddling up against her. Brooke drifted off to sleep a smile spread across her face and a safe feeling enveloping her. Being friends with Nathan was beginning to have some awesome advantages.

A/N: So I sat down and just started writing not really knowing where I was going with this chapter but in the end I think it turned out pretty good, sort of a look into the new friendship of Brooke and Nathan. I hope you guys like it! Brooke's note is "If You Only Knew" by Maroon 5.


	5. A Different Side

Luke and Haley pulled up in front of Brooke's house for their annual Saturday morning pancake breakfast. They both looked at each other when they saw Nathan's car in the driveway but before Luke jumped to conclusion Haley felt that she needed to fill him in on what was going on. "Nathan is Brooke's math tutor and most of the time they work so late that he just ends up spending the night."

"So are they dating?"

"Nope just from what I hear from Brooke they've gotten closer so they're getting there." Luke nodded and got out of the car grabbing the bags of pancakes from the backseat.

"So it's a good thing that you got extra pancakes."

"Well I knew he was here last night so I put two and two together."

"You're so smart." Luke replied lightly kissing her as they stood in front of Brooke's door about to just go in when Nathan opened the door.

"It's too early for that guys, I haven't eaten yet." Nathan whined throwing his hand over his eyes. Luke laughed and swatted at Nathan hitting him in the chest. "Geez you're just like Brooke always hitting me." Luke went to open his mouth and say something when Brooke walked down the stairs in one of Nathan's sweatshirts and a pair of sweats.

"Well don't just stand there I want some pancakes." She smiled at Luke's face and knew that Haley had told him about Nathan spending the night. Things with Nathan were progressing in the direction that she wanted them too and she hoped that it was only a matter of time before they got together. Nathan moved so Luke and Haley could walk in and led the way to the kitchen. Luke watched Nathan move around Brooke's house as if he lived there but what Luke didn't know was Nathan did almost live there because things at home had taken a turn for the worst. Brooke was the only one that knew that Deb and Dan were having problems and that it was affecting Nathan both physically and emotionally. Nathan didn't know that he and Brooke shared the common thread of shitty families.

They group laughed and made small talk throughout breakfast Luke still not able to wrap his head around what was exactly going on between Brooke and Nathan. Brooke was having a fun time with her friends when the house phone rang and she knew that if the house phone was ringing that it was her parents and sense of dread washed over her. Nathan watched her genuine smile wash from her face and the faked and forced one slip in its place. He watched with concern as she picked up the phone and walked outside shutting the door behind her. Haley watched Nathan watching Brooke and wanted to 'Aww' out loud. 'He's so 

cute being concerned over her, ask her out already damnit!' Haley thought in her head as she stood up and started cleaning up breakfast.

Brooke sat down in one of the chairs as her mother went on and on about what was going on with her and Brooke's father. Brooke loved her parents but she wished that they would for once pay attention to her and actually call to see how she was not just to vent about what was going on in their lives. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and she didn't want to cry, she was tired of crying over her parents not giving a damn about her or what was going on in her life. These were the times that Brooke was jealous of the relationships that Luke and Haley had with her parents.

After Brooke was outside for 10 minutes Nathan excused himself and slipped outside to check on her. He found her silently crying with the phone still up to her ear and judging by her silence whoever she was on the phone with didn't know that she was crying. He walked over towards her and sat down next to her wrapping his arm around her shoulder giving her a shoulder to cry on. Brooke knew that he was the one that came to check on her since both Luke and Haley usually just gave her some space when her parents called but she was glad that Nathan had come outside to check on her. She rested his head on his shoulder as he leaned back in the chair. Finally a couple of moments later Brooke told her mom that she loved her and hung up the phone drying the tears from her eyes.

"You okay?" She shrugged her shoulders not really knowing how to answer that. "Well I'm here for you if you need to talk to me." She nodded her head not trusting her voice at the moment. "We better get inside before Luke and Haley think something's up." When they were about to walk in they heard Haley and Luke having a tense discussion and decided to leave the couple alone and walked back outside.

"That was my mom on the phone in case you were wondering." Nathan nodded his head not wanting to tell her that he thought it was her mom. "I hate it when she calls, all she does is bitch about my dad or one of the ladies she calls her associates but never asks me how I am. It's like she only calls because she knows that she can vent at me. How can you be a mother and not care about your kid? How can you not wonder if they're still alive or dead? I don't understand it." Nathan without replying just pulled her into his arms letting her sob while running his hand up and down her back.

Haley looked through the door about to open it when she saw Brooke move into Nathan's opens arms and knew at that moment that Brooke had probably told him about the situation with her parents and decided to give them some time and left the house leaving Brooke a note.

Almost an hour later Brooke pulled herself out of Nathan's arms and both walked back into the house not surprised to find it empty. Nathan looked at Brooke who was sitting against the arm of the couch with the sadness look on her face and Nathan swore it felt his heart break. Nathan went to say something anything to put that smile on her face but she started talking. "I'm gonna lay down for a little bit."

"Alright call me when you wake up and we'll do something." She nodded and hugged him again silently thanking him for being there for her. "Remember I'm always a phone call away." She nodded and smiled a small smile as if she was doing it just for him. Nathan smiled back at her before leaving her to take a nap in peace.

Nathan got in his car fully intended on going home and seeing how his mom was but as he pulled out of Brooke's driveway he found himself turning towards Luke's house. Nathan walked up to the door hoping that Haley wasn't there because he needed to talk to his brother. He sighed in relief when Luke answered the door and there was no sign of Haley anywhere.

"What's up Nate?"

"I need to talk to you."

"What's wrong?" Luke instantly asked noting that his brother's happy demeanor he saw earlier had been replaced with worry.

"Okay so ya know how we talked about my little problem with the two girl's right?" Luke nodded not knowing where this conversation was going. "Well I think that I'm starting to lose interest with this mystery girl. I mean I've been spending so much time with Brooke that I'm starting to feel like Brooke's the right girl for me." Luke looked at Nathan searching his eyes for any hint of all this being a joke.

"Well what if Brooke was the girl sending you the notes?" Luke clamped his hand over his mouth the second the last word left his mouth. 'Nice going Luke, Brooke's gonna kill you.'

"What?" Nathan asked completely caught off-guard by Luke's slip of the tongue. Luke shook his head not wanting to say something else he's going to regret. "No come on Luke I won't tell her I swear."

"I can't Nate, I promised her I wouldn't."

"I'm your brother! That trumps the best friend."

"I can't Nathan! She's been through so much I can't break that trust!" Nathan sighs falling down to Luke's bed his head in his hands. If what Luke said was true then Brooke was the girl sending him the notes and worming her way into his heart both in person and through the letters that she sent him. Luke watched his brother fall to his bed and wanted to tell him, wanted to let him know but knew that he would be breaking his promise to Brooke, the girl that's seen her 'best friend' all over the guy in front of her for over a year, and if he tells his brother the secret he's been keeping for weeks now he also runs the risk of losing Haley's trust and he can't do that. He can't lose Haley but as he sits down next to his brother the bond that he has made with Nathan wins out over everything. "I want to tell you but I run the risk of losing both of my best friends and my girlfriend. But you're my brother and I know that this whole situation is making your head spin and I feel like I have to tell you because if it's going to make two important people in my life happy I feel the need to tell you but promise you that you won't say anything to her until she tells you."

"What is going on?"

"Brooke's been sending you those notes. It's been her all along."

"Why?"

"That's something you have to ask Brooke when she tells you and I stress the phrase when she tells you. Just give her a chance." Nathan nodded letting the new information sink in. 'So Brooke's the one that's been sending me the notes? That must means that she shares the same feelings right? But I should probably just let things take their course. Yeah that's what I'll do.'

"Thanks for telling me Luke."

"Don't let her know that you know, please."

"I have a plan."

"What?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Nathan smiled and hugged Luke before leaving to finally go home and check on his mom. When Nathan got home he was shocked to see a pink envelope wedged in-between the door and the door jam. He smiled at the envelope his heart pounding in his chest, knowing who was sending him the notes now it made it ten times better when he got the pink envelopes. He walked into his house and closed the door slipping the note into his back pocket as he called for his mom. Sighing when he realized she wasn't home he walked up the stairs and into his room pulling the note out of his pocket as he sat down on his bed.

_Nathan_

_When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;  
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;  
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,  
Until you come and sit awhile with me._

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;  
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;  
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;  
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;  
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;  
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;  
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

There is no life - no life without its hunger;  
Each restless heart beats so imperfectly;  
But when you come and I am filled with wonder,  
Sometimes, I think I glimpse eternity.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;  
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;  
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;  
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;  
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;  
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;  
You raise me up... To more than I can be.

You raise me up... To more than I can be.

_-Secret Admirer_

Nathan folded up the letter and slipped it back into the envelope as he stood up and walked over to the drawer that contained the other letters. He smiled as his phone rang in his pocket, the ringtone letting him know that it was indeed his secret admirer Brooke calling him.

"Hey Brooke, feeling better after your nap?" He smiled as she then began telling him that he had literally an hour to get ready before he joined her for a movie night with Haley. "Yes Brooke I'll be there in an hour and no I won't forget this time." He laughed as he hung up the phone. "Get ready Brooke Davis, you're about to have all your dreams come true." Nathan said to his empty room already hatching his plan to get Brooke Davis to be his girlfriend.

**A/N: So Nathan knows that Brooke's sending him the notes, wonder what's going to happen next? How long will it take for them to finally get together? Stay tuned to find out! Brooke's note is "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban. **


	6. Makes Me Ill

**A/N: Thank you to missdenmark and Marissa Davis for your ideas I'm thinking of using them in future chapters!**

Nathan walked out of his first class of the day happy that now he got to spend the rest of the day with Brooke, the girl that had slowly wormed her way into his heart and mind. Nathan walked down the hallway smiling at those that said hello to him and some of his teammates but the smile instantly faded when he saw Brooke at her locker laughing at something some guy was saying to her as he leaned up against the locker next to hers. Nathan caught Luke's eye and decided that he didn't want to deal with Luke right now so he totally bypassed his locker and kept walking out down the hallway.

Luke looked over at Brooke who was smiling that smile that she only seemed to smile whenever Nathan was around, it made him angry to see the look of anger and hurt on his brother's face when he saw Brooke with this mystery guy. Luke caught Haley's eyes from down the hall and she looked at Brooke shocked that she would actually try and screw things up with Nathan by flirting with the new guy. Haley having to walk over to her locker which was past Brooke dreaded walking over to her locker. She put on her happy face and walked down the hall hoping that Brooke was too oblivious to notice her. Of course the minute Haley got within two feet of Brooke she was calling her over towards them. "Haley! Meet Felix." Haley looked at Felix and wanted to slap the smirk off his face.

"Hello Felix."

"Hey."

"Well it was really nice meeting you but I have to go meet Luke and Nathan." Haley said stressing Nathan's name before walking away from Brooke and Felix angry at Brooke for throwing away her chances with Nathan for some new guy that was paying attention to her. Haley loved Brooke like her own sister but she was being stupid. Shaking her head as she walked away Haley's heart broke when she saw Nathan with Luke waiting for her by her locker. They were talking in hushed tones but Haley knew that Luke was telling him that it was probably nothing that he had nothing to worry about. Haley walked over to him and when Luke went to hug her she shook her head not wanting to rub salt into Nathan's wounds. Luke nodded and looked over Haley's shoulder at Brooke who was now walking away with the new guy and saw Nathan starring at the spot she was just in his shoulders slumped and a look on his face like someone had just kicked his puppy.

Haley sighed as she shut her locker and pulled Luke away from Nathan. "Look go find Brooke and talk to her, I'll talk to Nathan." Luke nodded and went off in the direction of where Brooke had walked off with the new guy trying to keep his anger in check. He didn't want to blow up on her because for all he knew Brooke could just have been told to show the new kid around at least he hoped that was all it was. Haley grabbed Nathan's arm and dragged him off towards the tutoring center where she knew that they could talk. "Nate don't let that get you down."

"Haley you don't understand."

"So what's she's talking to Felix, big deal."

"No it is a big deal Haley; she gave him the same smile that she usually just gives to me. She was laughing and flirting with him Haley. You don't get it." He sighed putting his head in his hands. **'This is why I don't let people in.'** Nathan thought bitterly as Haley tried to cheer him up.

"I'm sorry Nathan." Haley tried to console him but knew that nothing was going to help.

Luke stopped a few feet away from Brooke when he saw her lean towards the new guy and laugh at something he said. Without thinking anything threw he marched up to Brooke completely ignoring the new guy. "Hey Luke, this is Felix." Luke didn't even register the new guy's name because he didn't care.

"I need to talk to you."

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Brooke said motioning with her head to Felix sitting next to her.

"I don't care; I need to talk to you _now_." Brooke went to reply when she looked up and saw the furious look in his eye and knew better than to question it.

"Alright, um Felix I'll talk to you later." Felix kinda confused as to what was going on nodded and walked away leaving the two alone. "What the hell is your problem?"

"What the hell is your problem? Geez, why don't you just kick Nathan in the balls while you're at it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He saw you and Felix getting awfully cozy at your locker this morning."

"So?"

"So?! God Brooke open your eyes, he likes you and you just crushed him."

"He should've said something earlier!"

"Yeah right and run the risk of being rejected, that's not Nathan and you know it."

"Well how was I supposed to know that he had feelings for me?"

"Um I don't know you spend all of your time with him."

"Why are you being like this?" Brooke asked referring to his sarcastic and angry demeanor.

"I'm being like this because you're hurting the guy you love. You should've seen his face Brooke, but no you're all wrapped up in the new guy. Well I hope he makes you happy because I think you just screwed your chances with Nathan." Before Brooke could answer Luke walked away from her leaving her to think about what he just said.

Luke found Nathan and Haley sitting in the tutoring center, Haley trying to cheer Nathan up and Nathan sitting with his head in his hands not wanting to be there anymore. When Haley saw Luke she knew that things with Brooke didn't go smoothly and she felt a little bad for Brooke having to deal with Luke. "Hey." Luke greeted seating down across from Nathan. Nathan looked up and shook his head telling the two of them he didn't want to talk about it.

"I have to get to class." He grabbed his stuff and walked out of the tutoring center leaving the couple feeling horrible for him.

"I take it things with Brooke didn't go well?"

"I told her that I thought she screwed her chances with Nathan."

"I hate to say it but she probably did, he's heartbroken Luke."

"Well he really cares about her and his face when he first saw them together, it was so sad."

"I don't know what we're going to do."

"I don't know either Hales, I really don't."

Nathan walked into his class a few minutes late pass in hand from Whitey and sat down across from Brooke not really looking at her. Brooke looked over at him and sighed when she saw the hurt expression on his face. She wanted to lean over and talk to him but he hadn't even looked at her since he walked into class and she realized that maybe Luke was right, maybe she had screwed up her chances with Nathan by flirting and talking to Felix.

Class dragged by with the two once talkative always together friends not uttering two words to each other, as Brooke struggled to keep up in Math she was slowly beginning to wish that she hadn't made friends with Felix and openly let him flirt with her. She decided to at least apologize to Nathan for hurting him and when she turned to talk to him the bell rang and he shot up out of his seat. Nathan walked out of class feeling no better than when he had walked in and right now he just wanted to get drunk and completely forget all about Brooke and her stupid smile. Haley watched Brooke sadly walk to her locker mustering a fake smile when Felix walked up to her. **'I hate to say it but I hope she is happy with him.'** Haley thought as she walked over towards Nathan's locker. "Hey, how was class?"

"The entire time I thought boy I could really use some alcohol right now." Haley nodded knowing that Nathan only got the urge to drink when his life sucked. "I just wish that I could get over it and move on with my life." Haley looked up at Nathan and a light bulb went off in her head.

"Well I think I might have an idea."

"What?" Nathan asked as he shut him locker and starting walking with her down the hallway and past Brooke and Felix.

"Just follow me." He opened his mouth to question her but she was already taking off down the hallway. Haley stopped at the library and walked over to one of the computer. Nathan sat next to her watching all the happy people around them wondering what Haley was up too but every time he turned towards her to ask she told him to turn his head. When she was done she handed him a folded up piece of paper. "Do not open this and after the bell rings slip this in Brooke's locker."

"Haley I can't keep being late to class."

"I'll tell Mrs. Henderson that you aren't feeling well, don't worry." He went to question her but she silenced him and sent him off to do what she told him too.

Brooke watched Nathan yet again walk into class late and sighed, he was avoiding her and with Felix following her everywhere she went now she knew that he would never talk to her. She took a deep breath not wanting the tears in her eyes to fall and just hoped that maybe just maybe Luke was wrong that maybe just maybe she hadn't screwed up her chance with Nathan. Nathan looked over at Brooke and wanted to shake her, make her see how much she was hurting him. He wanted to scream at her to make her feel an ounce of what he felt and when he saw a tear slip from her eye he wanted to say that she deserved it but it just hurt him even more.

When the bell rang Brooke bolted from class not wanting to be there anymore, she just wanted to go home and crawl into bed with a tub of ice cream. She sighed when she saw Felix waiting for her at her locker. He smiled at her but she shook her head holding her hand up to silence him. "Look Felix I'm sorry but I can't talk to you."

"Why not?"

"Because I just can't now please leave." He looked at her and shook his head muttering whatever under his breath as he walked away and found a new girl to talk to. Brooke opened her locker and the white folded up piece of paper fell on her shoe. Looking around the hallway Brooke bent down and picked up the piece of paper.

_I was hanging with the fellas  
Saw you with your new boyfriend, it made me jealous  
I was hoping that I'd never see you with him  
But it's all good, 'cause I'm glad that I met him  
Heh  
'Cause now I know the competition's very slim to none  
And I can tell by looking that he's not the one  
He's not the type you said you liked  
His style is wack, clothes are bad  
Come on, girl, let him go  
I want you back_

_Call me a hater, if you want to  
But I only hate on him 'cause I want you  
Say I'm trippin' if you feel like  
But you without me ain't right  
You can say I'm crazy, if you want to  
That's true-- I'm crazy 'bout you  
You could say I'm breakin' down inside  
'Cause I can't see you with another guy_

_It makes me ill  
To see you give  
Love and attention at his will  
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel  
To see you with him  
Oh, it makes me ill  
To see you give  
Love and attention at his will  
And you can't imagine how it makes me feel  
To see you with him_

_Girl I know that we broke up  
But that doesn't mean you should give the cold shoulder  
'Cause you know that I truly do adore ya  
And that other guy can't do nothin' for ya  
Uh, see  
I can tell that you don't really love that guy  
But there's no need for you to go and waste your time  
I think you know I love ya more  
Girl you gotta let him go  
I want you so just give him the boot_

_Call me a hater, if you want to  
But I only hate on him 'cause I want you  
You can say I'm trippin' if you feel like  
But you without me ain't right  
You can say I'm crazy, if you want to  
That's true-- I'm crazy 'bout you  
You could say I'm breakin' down inside  
'Cause I can't see you with another guy_

_It makes me ill cause you used to be my girl  
It makes me ill cause you used to be my girl  
So baby come back to me_

Brooke looked at the paper wondering who would leave it in her locker. She looked up and saw Haley and Luke looking at her but they both looked away when she glanced at them. She watched Nathan walk right past them without even acknowledging them and wondered if Nathan was the one who had put the note in her locker. Smiling a little bit to herself she shut her locker walking to her English class already hatching a plan to get back on Nathan's good side.

**A/N: So I had to throw in some drama this chapter because it can't always be sunny in paradise but don't worry Brathan will be together again soon enough. Nathan's note was "Makes Me Ill" by NSYNC.**


	7. Next Contestant

Brooke heard the song the moment she and Haley pulled up to the after party. It was one of her favorite Nickelback songs and she smiled softly singing along as they walked up the walkway.

_**I judge by what she's wearing  
Just how many heads I'm tearing  
Off of assholes coming on to her**_

Brooke walked into the crowded house the music blaring around her a feeling of uneasiness washing over her. It had been over a year since she had been to a party and her goal tonight was just to have fun and forget all about a certain raven haired basketball player that was currently ignoring her. **'Not like he doesn't have a reason to.'** She thought in her head as she smiled at the already drunken teenagers dancing and laughing around her. She walked into the kitchen and bumped into Nathan who almost spilled the contents of his cup on her. She wanted to say something but didn't when she saw a random girl come up behind Nathan and wrap her arms around his waist. "Sorry for bumping into you." He looked up at her shocked that she had said something to him but nodded giving her a small smile before moving out of her way and out of the kitchen.

_**Each night seems like it's getting worse  
And I wish she'd take the night off  
So I don't have to fight off  
Every asshole coming on to her**_

Haley walked in after Nathan and looked at Brooke who was chugging the contents of her red cup before grabbing the bottle of vodka again and pouring it in the cup. Haley went to stop her when Brooke looked at her ready to cry. "Just please Haley leave me alone." Haley went to stop her again but Brooke ripped the bottle away from the counter and left the room not wanting to hear anything that Haley had to say to her. Right now all she wanted to do was get drunk and forget all about Nathan.

_**They'll go and ask the DJ  
Find out just what would she say  
If they all tried coming on to her  
Don't they know it's never going to work  
**_

Almost an hour after Brooke had arrived at the party she was wasted; she couldn't walk more than two steps without falling over and everything Felix said had made her giggle whether it was funny or not. Nathan had forgotten all about the girl that had tried to hook up with him earlier because he was too busy watching over Brooke. "You know one would think you're a creep." Nathan turned towards Haley and shook his head. "She's drunk."

_**They think they'll get inside her  
With every drink they buy her  
As they all try coming on to her  
This time somebody's getting hurt**_

"And he seems overly friendly." Nathan added watching as Felix tried to pull Brooke flush against his body. Haley watched Nathan ball his fists and squeeze his hands and smiled.

"I promise to cover for you if it comes down to beating him to a bloody pulp." Nathan laughed and turned his head towards Haley smiling for the first time in almost 2 weeks. **'Since about the same time that he and Brooke stopped talking.'** Haley thought to herself smiling. A loud crashing noise ripped Nathan's attention away from Brooke and Felix to the fight that had broken out in the living room between Tim and Jake. Nathan without thinking rushed into the living room pulling Jake away from a drunken Tim.

_**Here comes the next contestant**_

Haley watched Nathan pull Jake away from Tim and when she turned around she saw Felix pulling Brooke up the stairs and from what Haley could see Brooke wasn't too keen on the idea of going upstairs with Felix. Haley rushed over to Nathan and pulled his attention away from Tim and Jake a look of pure panic washing over her face. "Nathan something's not right."

"Why?"

"I saw Felix and Brooke going upstairs and she didn't look like she wanted to go up there."

"Haley's she's drunk, she's always happy to go upstairs when she's drunk." Nathan replied matter-of-factly no matter how much to hurt to say it.

"Nathan will you just go come with to check? It would make me feel better."

"Fine." Nathan sighed preparing him to see Brooke hooking up with another guy as they walked up the stairs Haley directing him to the last three rooms while she did the first three and Nathan wanted to call Haley an idiot because the only thing he saw in the first two rooms were random people making out but when he opened the last door he got the shock of his life. Felix was on top of Brooke who was trying to push him off of her. Nathan felt the rage course through his body as he rushed into the room and rip Felix off of Brooke. Brooke in her drunken state looked at Nathan's angry face and started backing away from him a look of relief washing over her face as she saw Haley come into the room. Nathan's face instantly softened and he backed away as if she had burned him and he turned towards Felix who was moaning on the floor in pain. The song seemed to be on repeat in his head as he watched Felix ready to fight him.

_**Is that your hand on my girlfriend?  
Is that your hand?  
I wish you'd do it again  
I'll watch you leave here limping  
I wish you'd do it again  
I'll watch you leave here limping  
There goes the next contestant**_

Haley looked over at Nathan who was about to leave the room when she remembered that there was no way that Brooke was going to get down the stairs by herself and there was no way that Haley could support her down the stairs. "Nathan I need your help." He turned and nodded knowing what Haley needed his help for. He walked over to Brooke and smiled at her hoping that she wouldn't be so afraid of him being there.

_**I even fear the ladies  
They're cool but twice as crazy  
Just as bad for coming on to her  
Don't they know it's never going to work  
Each time she bats an eyelash  
Somebody's grabbing her ass  
Everyone keeps coming on to her  
This time somebody's getting hurt  
**_

"Come on Brooke we're gonna take you home." She nodded wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her head in the crook of his neck, which judging by the look on Nathan's face he didn't mind carrying her down the stairs. He walked her out of the house and towards Haley's car when Brooke mumbled something about wanting to go home with Nathan. Haley laughed at how cute Brooke was when she was in Nathan's arms as if it was only the two of them. Haley looked at Nathan expectantly and he just nodded his head. "Alright I'll take her home."

_**Here comes the next contestant**_

"Thanks Nathan, wait are you sure you're okay to drive home?"

"Yep sober as you are." She looked at him skeptically trying to decide for herself if he was and Nathan had to laugh. "Haley just because I had a red cup doesn't mean that alcohol was in there, I had coke that's it." He explained to her as if she was his mother and satisfied with his answer she nodded silently telling him not to kill her best friend on the way back to her house. Nathan put her in the front seat of his car looking at she was wearing. Her skirt was too short and her shirt was too tight; she was just oozing sex and Nathan knew that she was more than that. He felt protective of her as she sat in the front seat fighting to stay awake and mumbling 'I'm sorry' over and over and Nathan wanted to tell her that it was fine now that she and he were talking although he wished that it had happened under different circumstances.

_**I'm hating what she's wearing  
Everybody here keeps staring  
Can't wait 'til they get what they deserve  
This time somebody's getting hurt**_

Nathan pulled up in front of Brooke's house and with little difficulty got Brooke out of the car and her keys out of her pocket and made their way towards the house. Brooke tried to walk through the door when Nathan put her down to open the door and giggled when she fell down. Nathan smiled at her and picked her up carrying her up the stairs and into her bedroom. He set her down on the bed and turned to look for something she could change into and when he turned around Brooke had stripped out of her skirt and top throwing them at Nathan. He had to calm himself down before he did something he would later regret, she had just almost been raped by Felix and there was no way that Nathan was going to do anything. She looked up at Nathan and gave him a small smile. He kissed her forehead and turned to leave the room when her hand shot out stopping him just like that night that he had first spent the night. He sighed sitting on the chair that faced her bed watching her drift off to sleep.

_**Here comes the next contestant**_

_**I wish you'd do it again  
Each night seems like it's getting worse  
I wish you'd do it again  
This time somebody's getting hurt**_

There goes the next contestant

Nathan heard the song in his head as he drifted off to sleep feeling like the song was perfect for the night the two had just had.

A/N: So there's the next chapter, the song is "Next Contestant" by Nickelback. I thought it fit perfectly with what happened during this chapter and Brathan are talking again! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	8. Lean On Me

Nathan woke up early Sunday morning smiling as he felt Brooke's arms tighten around his waist. He kissed the top of her head and slipped out of bed sliding a pillow in his place before going downstairs to make breakfast. It had become their normal Sunday morning thing, he would get up make her breakfast and then they would conquer their homework, sometimes it felt like they were married. It had been about a week since the whole Felix thing and Nathan, who thought Brooke was completely and utterly wasted when it happened, learned that she wasn't as drunk as perceived; she remembered almost every detail of what happened even the part when she moved away from Nathan which she says "was stupid since I know you would never do nothing like that." Since the whole "incident" as they were calling it they had become even closer and taken their friendship to a bigger level, not to the dating level but they were taking their time in getting there.

Nathan moved about her kitchen lightly humming "Heels Over Head" in his head when Brooke finally made her way down the stairs. She stopped cold in her tracks a small smile gracing her face; she walked in and sat on the counter a few feet away from where Nathan was working. He turned and smiled at Brooke setting a fresh cup of coffee in her lap before going back to her breakfast. It was not unusual for Luke or Haley to come over on a weekend afternoon or a weekday night for that matter and find Brooke and Nathan together, it was no surprise to the couple that Brooke and Nathan had become the best of friends only telling the other things that they couldn't tell anything else. Brooke knew more about Nathan then she thinks Luke, Deb, and his Uncle Cooper knew put together. Nathan knew more about Brooke then Peyton and Haley combined times 2. Nathan set Brooke's plate on the table across from his and the two sat down acting as if they had been married for years.

Moments after they had finished breakfast Haley and Luke walked into Brooke's house smiling at Brooke as she walked down the stairs with her hair wrapped in a towel. Luke was about to ask where Nathan was when he saw Nathan cleaning up after breakfast which shocked Luke to the point of being speechless. Nathan turned around and laughed at his brother's fallen mouth. "Cat got your tongue?" He joked throwing his sponge into the sink and walking towards his backpack.

"Since when does Nathan actually clean up voluntarily?" Haley asked shocked as well because from what Haley knew of Nathan he wasn't the cleanest person she knew.

"Are you kidding me? He cleans more than I do." Brooke replied sitting at the table setting her school bag on the table as she went to refill her coffee cup. Now it was Haley's turn to be shocked, Brooke was probably the cleanest person she knew and to know that Nathan might just clean more than she did literally sent Haley's head spinning. "Wow you guys need to spend more time with us." Brooke joked making her and Nathan laugh at their friends.

"Wow now that I've had my shocker for the day let's get down to work." Luke suggested pulling out his math homework both he and Brooke looking at Nathan and Haley who shared a smile and the two began to help them out. As the four friends got to work no one seemed to mention or bring up what had happened the week before where Nathan almost risked everything he had worked so hard for just to defend Brooke, a girl that everyone at school thought meant nothing to Nathan.

_**MONDAY AFTER THE PARTY**_

_It was the Monday after the party and Nathan was walking out of his first period class and stopped dead in his tracks. Felix was leaning up against the locker next to Brooke's trying to talk to her, he clenched his fists a couple of times before walking over to her locker stopping and lightly touched her arm. Brooke turned and sighed in relief when she saw Nathan's hand resting on her forearm. "Hey Haley told me she wanted to talk to you about something." Brooke searched Nathan's eyes knowing that if Haley really had needed to talk to her she would have told her in their creative writing class but knowing that Nathan was just trying to help she grabbed her books and nodded her head completely ignoring Felix as she walked away. As soon as Brooke was far away enough Nathan slammed his books down and grabbed Felix by his shirt collar pushing him harder against the locker. _

_"Stay the fuck away from her." He hissed his face millimeters away from Felix's._

_"She's a big girl she can make up her own mind; she doesn't need you or want you around." Nathan removed one of his hands from Felix's collar slamming his fist into Felix's face wiping the smug smirk off of his face._

_"You don't know a damn thing about Brooke and if I see you talking to her or even looking at her I will hunt you down and rip you apart with my bare hands, got it?" Nathan asked emphasizing his point by punching Felix in the face again making the back of his head smack against the locker. Felix just smirked and pushed Nathan away getting ready for a fight. Felix punched Nathan in the face blood squirting from his mouth as he head flew to the side from the force of Felix's fist. Nathan shook his head feeling a dull headache coming on and punched him in the stomach making him double over in pain. Nathan took this opportunity to keep punching him in the stomach._

_Luke was walking down the hallway when he saw a big group of students standing in the hallway, curious as to what was going on Luke pushed his way through the crowd and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Nathan beating the hell out of Felix. Luke got a glimpse of the look in Nathan's eye and immediately flew into action breaking through the few students in front of him and hurling his body towards Nathan's wrapping his arms around Nathan's waist to avoid the punches being thrown and succeeded in pulling him away from Felix. "Nathan!" Luke yelled trying to get through to his brother who was fighting against him to get back to Felix, who was being looked after by another student. Nathan looked at Luke his hard death glare instantly softening as his chest began to rapidly rise and fall. "Come on let's get you out of here." Luke pushed Nathan down the hall away from Felix as Luke turned and picked up his books stopping in front of Felix. "Stay the hell away from Nathan and Brooke because next time I won't stop him." Felix just looked at him as the blood ran from his nose, watching as Luke walked away slightly pushing Nathan down the hall._

_Brooke was sitting in class when Nathan walked in looking a little worse for wear and sat down next to Brooke. "What happened?"_

_"You should see the other guy." He muttered making Brooke laugh a little but didn't deter her from finding out what happened. Nathan sighed knowing that there was no way that he could avoid telling her what had happened but he was scared that she would get mad at him. "I told Felix to leave you alone and he had some stuff that made me angry so I hit him."_

_"What did he say?" She asked thinking it was something about her. _

_Nathan sighed again and turned towards her deciding that he just had to tell her. "He said that you didn't want me around." He softly told her hating the fact that he felt like such a girl. _

_"Nathan if I didn't want you around me, I would tell you." Nathan went to answer her when Principal Turner walked into the room motioning for Nathan to follow him. Nathan looked at Brooke who nodded in encouragement as if silently telling him that she would go up to bat for him. He grabbed his books following Turner out of the room and down to his office._

_Principal Turned shut the door behind him and Nathan motioning for Nathan to sit down a serious look on his face before he could open his mouth Nathan was explaining what had happened. "I know I screwed up, I know that I shouldn't have done it, but as lame as it might sound I had a reason for doing it."_

_"And your reason being?"_

_Nathan took a deep breath knowing that he had to tell the truth because there was no way that Turner was going to let him out of his one by saying the bare minimum. "He tried to rape my best friend at a party this weekend and I just told him after I saw him talking to her this morning to stay away from her and he in a sense provoked it. I know that I shouldn't have hit him but I wasn't thinking about anything else but my best friend."_

_"Nathan you can't take these things into your own hands. You have to let other people that are more qualified handle it."_

_"In a calm state of mind I know that but I can only take so much before I snap and messing with someone I care about pushes me over the edge. So, on that note I will take any punishment you have to give me because I know that I screwed up."_

_"Well Nathan I am going to have to suspend your for three days and from one game." Nathan nodded and stood up making his way towards the door before turning around._

_"Can I tell Brooke and Luke?" Turner thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. _

_"As long as you're out of the building before class ends." Nathan yet again nodded and left the room stopping at his locker before going back to class. He stopped at Luke's class first smiling at the teacher as he asked to talk to Luke for a moment because he had to make the most of Turner's rare niceness towards Nathan._

_"What's up? Why aren't you in class?"_

_"I've been suspended for three days and can't play in Friday's game." _

_"That's ridiculous." Luke replied confused as to Nathan's calm demeanor about the whole ordeal._

_"I actually got off pretty easy since I took responsibility so I'll talk to you later."_

_"Have you told Brooke?"_

_"I'm on my way now." Luke nodded and walked back into class still reeling from Nathan being so calm. Nathan took a deep breath before opening the door to his math class and asking to talk to Brooke. Brooke followed Nathan out of the room standing in front of him as he leaned against the wall. _

_"What happened?"_

_"I got suspended till Wednesday and can't play in Friday's game."_

_"I'm so sorry."_

_"I'm actually okay with it because I know I got off easy."_

_"How?"_

_"I took responsibility saying that I knew it wasn't right but I had no other choice and I guess he seemed to go with it so I'm sorry that I can't be here for you but you have Luke and Haley and my phone's always on."_

_"I'll see you after school right?" She asked not knowing what she would do if she couldn't see him._

_"Hopefully but I don't know how my parents are going to react to this." Brooke nodded and hugged him before going back into class leaving Nathan to sigh and lean his head back against the wall. Nathan had one more stop to make on his way out of the building and he was not looking forward to talking to Whitey, he knew that he was going to get mad at Nathan for not being able to play in Friday's game and Nathan almost turned around but Whitey opening the door about to walk out made Nathan have to face the music. _

_"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" _

_"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Whitey nodded and walked back into his office motioning for Nathan to sit down. _

_"What's up?"_

_"I can't play in Friday's game."_

_"Why?" Whitey asked leaning forward in his chair._

_"I got into a fight and Turner suspended me until Wednesday and benched me for the game."_

_"Why the hell would you do that?"_

_"I was defending my best friend and I know that it was wrong but I have to protect those I care about." Whitey nodded knowing immediately who Nathan was talking about._

_"Alright well I'll talk to Turner and see if I can get him to just suspend you from school not the game and see if you can still be allowed to come to practice and I'll have Lucas let you know what happens." Nathan stood up after looking at the clock and realizing that he had to leave._

_"Thanks Whitey." Whitey just nodded and stood up following Nathan out of his office and walking off towards Turner's office and as Nathan drove away from school he had a pretty good feeling that he would be playing in Friday's game._

_Brooke walked into her house after practice a feeling of dread washing over her with her already growing feeling of guilt. She looked at her phone for the fourth time since she got the text message almost ten minutes ago. __**Hey-I'm grounded till I'm off suspension, so I'll c you on Thursday :(**__**, Nate.**__ Brooke sighed falling back onto the couch her phone falling to the ground. What was she going to do without Nathan around? She had grown so used to having him around and now she wouldn't see him for 3 days and it was all her fault. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep a frown fixated on her face._

_Nathan was sitting in his room struggling to do his English homework cursing his parents out in his head for overreacting. He hadn't been grounded since his freshman year and it was his dad that shocked him the most, Nathan could've understood his dad being hard on him if he was still not able to play in Friday's game but Whitey had talked Principal Turner into finding another way to punish Nathan in lieu of taking him out of the game. So Luke called Nathan and told him that he was indeed playing in the game but had to keep his grades at a steady B average and cannot do anything but be a model student and the next time Nathan got into trouble Principal Turner would take him out of 8 games. Nathan was grateful but right now even being suspended sucked. His dad had come down on him very hard given him a 2 hour lecture when he got home while his mom just sat there. He wondered what was going to happen since his dad was going out of town till that Friday because his mom was always so absorbed in work that Nathan almost thought for a moment that he could get away with anything when his mom told him after his dad left for his trip that she was going to stand by his dad's decision. The worst part of all of it had to be telling Brooke that he was grounded and couldn't see her which was killing him and it's only been what almost 12 hours? The clock next to his bed read close to midnight and as he rubbed his tired eyes he wondered how he was going to sleep that night since he had grown accustomed to having Brooke lying next to him. Sighing he shut his notebook and pushed away from his desk ready to hopefully just collapse in his bed when his phone began to vibrate on the desk. Picking it up he smiled when he saw Brooke's name flashing on the screen. _

_"Hey." Brooke instantly felt better when she heard Nathan's voice on the other end of the phone._

_"Hi." She shyly replied unsure of the real reason behind her calling him. _

_"What's wrong?" He asked picking up on the depressed tone in her voice._

_"I feel horrible; all of this is my fault." She whispered tears welling up in her eyes. Nathan sighed and leaned back in his chair._

_"You didn't do anything wrong, I could've stopped and walked away but I didn't, it's my fault."_

_"But you were defending me!" She exclaimed hitting the table in front of her out of frustration. Nathan ran a hand through his hair closing his eyes trying to come up with a way to calm her down. "And now you're grounded while being suspended."_

_"Hold on." She went to question him when she heard him putting the phone down and walk out of the room. She looked around her kitchen trying to make out the cabinets in the dark while she waited for him to come back. Minutes later, what felt like forever to Brooke, she heard Nathan pick the phone up. "I'm coming over."_

_"Nathan you're grounded, you can't, I won't let you."_

_"I talked to my mom and told her either she let me or I was going to go against her and do it anyway and she said it was fine." Brooke sighed not wanting to get Nathan in even more trouble._

_"I've already gotten you into enough trouble."_

_"Either let me in or I'll break in." Brooke laughed knowing that he would break into her house so she sighed again and agreed. _

_"Let me know when you get here." Brooke hung up the phone and moved towards the stairs sitting on them as she waited for Nathan to come over. _

_Nathan drove over to Brooke's his mom's words playing over in his head, "She must be a special girl if you're willing to risk even worse punishment to see her and if she is indeed special don't let her go." Nathan smiled and knew the moment that Brooke opened the door that he had fallen in love with the girl standing in front of him._

_That Friday night as Brooke walked into the locker room to change after the game and as she walked up to her locker she saw a white envelope sticking out of it attached to a CD. She set her pom-poms on the ground and pulled it out. _

_**Brooke-**_

_**I wish that I could tell you how I feel about you exactly but no words that I could write could describe it so I'll leave it to the professionals. **_

_**-Your Secret Admirer**_

_Brooke quickly got changed and walked out to her car with Nathan, Haley, and Luke who were going to join her at her house for a movie night, she quickly got in and put the CD into the player not noticing the looks that her three companions were sharing. She started the car and waited for a moment before pulling out of the parking lot._

**I have been blind, unwilling to see  
The true love you're giving.  
I have ignored every blessing.  
I'm on my knees confessing**

That I feel myself surrender  
Each time I see your face.  
I am captured by your beauty,  
Your unassuming grace.  
And I feel my heart is turning,  
Falling into place.  
I can't hide it  
Now hear my confession.

I have been wrong about you.  
Thought I was strong without you.  
For so long nothing could move me.  
For so long nothing could change me.  
Now I feel myself surrender  
Each time I see your face.  
I am captured by your beauty,  
Your unassuming grace.  
And I feel my heart is turning,  
Falling into place.  
I can't hide it  
Now hear my confession.

**You are the air that I breathe.  
You're the ground beneath my feet.  
When did I stop believing?**

Cause I feel myself surrender  
Each time I see your face.  
I am captured by your beauty,  
Your unassuming grace.  
And I feel my heart  
Falling into place.  
I can't hide it  
Now hear my confession.  
I can't hide it  
Now hear my confession.

_Brooke looked at her radio as she pulled into her driveway the tears falling from her eyes. The song was absolutely beautiful and she looked over at Nathan as he smiled at her not giving her any indication of if he was the one that had given her the song but her heart was screaming at her that it was Nathan and that was good enough for her. Yep it was official now Brooke Davis was wholeheartedly in love with Nathan Scott and it was more than just a crush now. _

_SUNDAY AFTER THE GAME_

Nathan shook his head bringing himself out of his trip down memory lane and back to the task at hand which was his English homework. The drama of Felix was behind them, hopefully, and now Nathan could focus solely on the attention of the girl sitting beside him that had stolen his heart the moment that she had let him completely in showing him the real Brooke Davis. Brooke looked up and smiled at him before going back to her homework. Yep it was official now Nathan Scott was in love with Brooke Davis and it was only a matter of time before she became his girlfriend, he just had to find the perfect way to ask her.

**A/N: Nathan is finally in love with Brooke! But how long until they become a couple? How's he going to ask her? Or is something going to deter them from finally becoming a couple? Stay tuned and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The song used in this chapter is "My Confession" by Josh Groban.**


	9. Calling on Mr Romance

Nathan looked over at Brooke while she slept a huge smile spread across her face; with each passing day that he spent with her he was finding it hard not telling her that he was in love with her. As the weeks flew by and they spent more and more time together Nathan began to see just what everyone else saw; He saw how perfect he and Brooke were for each other and just how well they got along. It'd had been close to a month and a half since Luke had told him that Brooke was the one sending him the letters and all that was left in this was for Nathan to officially ask Brooke to be his girlfriend but he couldn't go about it like he did with Peyton, he had to go above and beyond and he knew the best person to call. Brushing a piece of hair out of Brooke's eyes Nathan moved to get out of bed when Brooke pulled him back, "Mhm, Nathan I love you." Nathan stopped moving out of bed and looked at her wondering if she was awake but when he went to move again he knew that she was murmuring in her sleep by the easy way that he could slide out of bed.

**'I must be dreaming there's no way that she just said she loved me, right? If she really does love me I have to make my plan the best I can and the only person who can help me now is Coop.'** Nathan thought as he walked over to his phone and picked it up casting more one look at Brooke who was still sleeping and slipped from the room dialing his Uncle Cooper's phone.

"Hello?"

"Coop, it's Nate."

"What's up?"

"I need your help."

"With?"

"I don't wanna tell you over the phone, can we meet somewhere?"

"Um yeah I'm at home so I'll make the drive down there where do you wanna meet?"

"Actually I'll just drive up there so it can really be a surprise."

"You're not in trouble are you?"

"No I'm not in trouble but I'll explain everything when I get there." They hung up and Nathan went back upstairs slipping quietly into Brooke's room. "Brooke." He whispered lightly shaking her awake, her eyes fluttered open and scanned the room wondering what was going on. "I'm gonna be late to school today, okay?"

"Sure." She replied not fully understanding what was going on and nodded as Nathan pulled on his sweatshirt and quietly slipped out of the room a huge smile on his face.

Almost an hour later Nathan pulled into his uncle's driveway an anxious feeling rising in his stomach, he hoped that Coop could help him come up with something truly amazing for him to ask Brooke to be his girlfriend because if Mr. Romance Expert couldn't help him Nathan was screwed. 

Before Nathan even made it to the door Cooper was standing there a huge smile on his face as he walked to the door. "Hey Nate."

"Hey Coop."

"So what do you need help with?" He asked leading Nathan into the kitchen and pouring him a cup of coffee.

"I need help asking a girl to be my girlfriend."

"Look at her and say, hey wanna be my girlfriend, look I'm done that could've been said over the phone." Coop replied walking out onto the patio and sitting in one of the chairs.

"No Coop that won't work with this girl she's special and I mean special enough to risk getting in even more trouble after being suspended and grounded I mean I'm really in love with her." Nathan replied sitting in a chair across from Coop facing the clean pristine pool.

"Wait you're in love with a girl that you aren't dating?" Coop asked trying to wrap his head around the situation.

"She and I have gotten really close over the past couple of weeks, she's like my best friend and yeah I fell in love with her."

"Wow we need to make this the best don't we?"

"Yeah."

"Okay what is she interested in?"

"Cheerleading and fashion."

Cooper thought about it for a moment before his face lit up like a kid on Christmas. "Well why not take her to New York City?"

"Yeah 'cause I can afford that."

"Well you might not be able to but I can."

"You would do that for me?" Nathan asked not believing that Coop would actually do something that nice for him.

"Yeah you could go over the weekend."

"She'll get suspicious and then it won't be a surprise."

"Say that I invited you to come visit me to help me put the finishing touches on my new Gatorade and said that you could invite some of your friends, bring your brother Luke so it won't be so suspicious, she'll never think that you would ask her out on a trip with Luke."

"Are you really going to be in New York when we go?"

"Yeah I actually do have to go at some time and I'll talk to your mom and Luke's mom and all you guys have to do is make sure that you're not missing much on that Friday."

"When are you going?"

"The first week in November."

"So that gives me what, 2 weeks to get my plan together?"

"Yeah and I have total faith that you'll be fine in that department but if not Tasha could help you."

"You and Natasha are still together?" Nathan asked a little shocked since the last time he had talked to Coop he and Tasha were having issues.

"Yeah I know the last time we talked her and I were having problems but Mr. Romance worked it out." Nathan laughed knowing that Coop took pride in his Mr. Romance title that Nathan's mom had given him years ago when Coop first started racing. "But if this girl really feels the same that you do you could ask her out over homework and she'd probably think it was the most romantic thing you've done to date."

"That would be the easy way of doing it, I want to go above and beyond the call of duty and make her really see how much I care about her."

"Who is the lucky girl?"

"Brooke Davis." Coop's eyes went wide as he made the connection.

"Brooks Davis? Wasn't she like your best friend when you were a kid and then Peyton's best friend?" Nathan nodded feeling a little embarrassed that he was in love with his ex's former best friend.

"But in my defense Peyton and Brooke don't really talk anymore so I don't really consider them best friends anymore." Coop shook his head a mile wide smile spread across his face.

"You're something else but she's probably a fantastic girl if she stole Nathan, The Playboy, Scott's heart." Coop joked laughing at Nathan who was mocking him with laughter.

"Laugh it up, Coop." Nathan replied the sarcasm in his voice only making Coop laugh harder. "You're a horrible uncle." Nathan stated standing up feeling that he had spent enough time with Coop and just wanted to get back to Brooke and just spend the day with her like he promised he would the other day.

"Nathan if you need anything to woo Brooke because I have a feeling that she might just be more than a high school girlfriend you know who to call." Coop stood up and walked over towards Nathan and putting his hand on his shoulder something that Coop always did with Nathan when he was being serious. "Now get your ass back to school." Nathan nodded and they shared a hug before Nathan left running into Natasha on the way out. She looked happy to see him and even gave him a hug before walking into the house. Nathan got in his car and looked at the house hoping that Coop's plan would be the perfect way to ask Brooke to be his girlfriend. If Mr. Romance doesn't get it right this time, Nathan was seriously going to be stream without a paddle and as he drove back to Tree Hill he decided that when it came to Brooke settling for mediocre was not an option for Nathan.

Nathan pulled into the school parking lot wondering how the day had been so far without him. He wondered if his parents knew that he ditched school to go see Coop, he wondered if they cared. Shaking the thoughts about his parents out of his head Nathan walked into school and was immediately bum rushed by Brooke who practically threw herself in his arms. "Today has been the worst day!"

"Why?" He asked concerned that something had bad had happened.

"You weren't here to pay attention in math and I have no idea what's going on and you weren't here to make me laugh." He smiled and shook his head at her dramatics.

"I'm sorry I had something to take care of but I'm here now so let me walk you to P.E." Brooke wanted to press the issue about what he had to take care of but decided that if he wanted her to know he would tell her, at least she hoped that that was the policy between them.

Nathan decided that he was going to talk to Luke about Coop's plan after school before the game and as Nathan watched Brooke laughing with Bevin about something as the cheerleaders went over their routines for the game that night a song popped into his head, a song that he knew he had to give Brooke.

Brooke walked into the locker room psyched about the Ravens winning the game with Nathan and Luke scoring the winning basket, she was surprised to find another CD stuck in her locker and looking around the locker room she wondered who put the CD in her locker.

**Brooke,**

**When you walk in the room all eyes are on you and your smile is enough to melt even the coldest of hearts. No matter how hard I try not to look at you I can't seem to take my eyes off of you but I'll let my friend Frankie Valli tell you how hard it is.**

**-Your Secret Admirer**

Brooke quickly changed rushing out of the locker room and towards her car anxious to hear the song. Nathan smiled when he saw Brooke rush to her car and quickly put the CD in completely ignoring him.

_**You're just too good to be true.  
Can't take my eyes off you.  
You'd be like Heaven to touch.**_

_**I wanna hold you so much.  
At long last love has arrived  
And I thank God I'm alive.  
You're just too good to be true.  
Can't take my eyes off you.**__**Oh, pretty baby,  
Don't bring me down, I pray.  
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay**_

Pardon the way that I stare.  
There's nothing else to compare.  
The sight of you leaves me weak.  
There are no words left to speak,  
But if you feel like I feel,  
Please let me know that it's real.  
You're just too good to be true.  
Can't take my eyes off you.

I love you, baby,  
And if it's quite alright,  
I need you, baby,  
To warm a lonely night.  
I love you, baby.  
Trust in me when I say:  
Oh, pretty baby,  
Don't bring me down, I pray.  
Oh, pretty baby, now that I found you, stay  
And let me love you, baby.  
Let me love you.

You're just too good to be true.  
Can't take my eyes off you.  
You'd be like Heaven to touch.  
I wanna hold you so much.  
At long last love has arrived  
And I thank God I'm alive.  
You're just too good to be true.  
Can't take my eyes off you.

I love you, baby,  
And if it's quite alright,  
I need you, baby,  
To warm a lonely night.  
I love you, baby.  
Trust in me when I say:

When the song ended Brooke leaned back in her seat a huge smile spread across her face as the song played over in her head. Nathan smiled and leaned against her door clearing his throat making her jump in surprise. "Hey great game tonight."

"You guys were great too." He replied smiling that smile that only she was ever allowed to see.

"So hotshot what's the game plan for tonight?"

"I don't know Tim's throwing a party but I don't know if I want to celebrate with them they can get really crazy."

"Well we can just order a pizza and hang out at my house."

"Sounds like a plan I'll just run home, see my parents, grab a change of clothes and meet you at your house." She nodded starting her car starting the song over and as she drove away she didn't see the relief washing over him.

"She's almost yours Nathan, just one more step and you're golden." He told himself as he got in his car and headed for home the anticipation of her being his starting to grow in his stomach.

A/N: So will Mr. Romance's plan work? Or will Nathan have to find another way to ask Brooke out? Hmm...I wonder what will happen at the Boy Toy Auction that's coming up in the next chapter...


	10. Sry not an update

ATTENTION! I am so unbelievably sorry for not updating any of my stories in such a long time but I didn't really understand just how hard college was going to be and just how much work I was going to get but I am going to try and make an effort to post more often, hopefully I'll get an update posted over the weekend.

Yet again I'm so sorry that this isn't an update but I'm going to try and get some done right now!

Thanks so much for being understanding,

fightingillini


	11. Boy Toy Auction

Nathan groaned as he walked out of the class and saw the fliers for the annual Boy Toy Auction. Brooke walked up next to him and laughed at the look on his face. "I don't wanna be in the Boy Toy Auction!" Nathan whined as they walked together to Brooke's locker.

"Come on Nathan, you're the biggest pull for the Auction, you have to do it."

"With my luck some obsessed girl is gonna buy me and try to rape me or something." He ranted as they walked further down the hallway to Nathan's locker each smiling at Luke and Haley.

"What if you're best friend bought you?" She asked leaning against Luke's now closed locker while Nathan got his books for his next class.

"Are you just saying that to make me do it or are you going to actually buy me?"

"A little bit of both, I haven't decided who I'm buying yet."

"Come on Brooke, I'll make it worth your while." He bribed trying to get her to agree to buy him; he would feel a lot better about flaunting his hotness if he knew that the girl he wanted to buy him was buying him.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She inquired as they walked across the campus towards their next classes. "Are you bribing me?"

"Maybe." He replied stopping at his desk and sitting down. "Come on Brooke, please? It's for a good cause and I am one of the biggest sellers, you know you want to spend the entire evening with me."

"What do I get out of it?"

"If you don't want to buy me that's fine." Nathan replied a little hurt that she wouldn't agree to buy him. Brooke looked at him and laughed at how sad he looked.

"If you think I'm going to leave my best friend high and dry you're crazy, of course I'll buy you." Nathan smiled in thanks and turned his attention to the teacher stealing glances at Brooke every couple of minutes. He smiled as the wheels in his head began turning with how he was going to wow the crowd at the auction this year. He knew that all he had to do to make Brooke the envy of every girl was take off his clothes, well take off the clothes that he was allowed to take off.

Brooke looked around the crowded room filled with hormonal slutty girls and random team members' parents and groaned, she had to con her parents into putting more money into her back account so that she could make sure that she won Nathan and why was she doing it? She had no clue, it's not like he didn't spend almost all of his time with her anyway, and he could've suffered with a random girl for a couple of hours right? 'But I don't want these sluts around my Nathan.' Brooke thought catching herself off guard, _her Nathan_ where had that come from. Shaking all the possessive thoughts out of her head Brooke smiled at her fellow cheerleaders Haley right by her side, both them were determined to win. "It's okay to be nervous Brooke."

"Nervous? Why would I be nervous?" She asked her eyes darting around in the room scoping out the competition.

"Because there is a kiss at the end of the night." Haley replied smiling and waving at Karen who was standing across the room next to Deb and another booster mom.

"So what there's a kiss? I've kissed a guy before."

"But not a guy that you're in love with." Haley reminded her now turning her attention on Brooke who was looking anywhere but at Haley. Brooke Davis was not about to admit in a room full of people that told rumors like their lives depended on it that she was actually nervous about spending the night with Nathan knowing that they would be sharing a kiss. It was bittersweet though because Brooke also knew that the kiss at the end of the night wouldn't be the kind of first kiss she wanted to share with Nathan. Sighing Brooke turned towards the stage where Whitey stood beginning the auction.

Nathan stood behind the curtain anxiously pulling the zipper on his Raven's jacket up and down as he watched Brooke smiling and laughing at something with Haley. He knew this was a bad idea, he never should've asked Brooke to buy him because it was going to ruin everything. He didn't want their first kiss to be one that she had to pay for. Luke walked up to Nathan and almost had to laugh at the expression on Nathan's face. "That's all you're wearing?" Luke asked poking at Nathan's Raven's jacket.

"Yeah what's wrong with it?"

"I just thought that you would go all out or something since Brooke was buying you."

"Oh what little you know." Nathan replied hoping that his Mr. Cool mask wasn't slipping; he needed to make sure that his teammates and the crowd didn't know how nervous he actually was. Nathan watched Tim make a fool of himself and nervously laughed glad to have the kid around to make him laugh a little bit.

"Why are you nervous?" Luke asked also looking out into the crowd but he only saw Haley.

"I'm not nervous what are you smoking?" Nathan lamely joked pulling at the collar of his jacket hoping that his cheeks weren't as red of Brooke's dress.

"Dude it's me you're talking to, inside you're freaking out and there's nothing to freak out about." Nathan rolled his eyes, **'if you only knew.'** Nathan thought turning his attention back out into the crowd his eyes landing on Brooke taking in the tight form fitting red dress she was wearing and the way her brunette hair cascaded down her back in waves and the way her lips just begged to be kissed long and hard. Nathan gulped chiding himself for letting his thoughts about Brooke overtake his mind. Luke looked at his brother and shook his head.

"I'm not freaking out." Nathan persisted turning his attention from Brooke and to Luke who was looking at him as if he was trying to read his mind. Luke just laughed and shakes his head turning his attention to the crowd as the girls bet seeing who could win a night with the mysterious Jake Jagielski. 

Nathan laughed imaging the horrified look on his face as girl after girl threw numbers out but Nathan's jaw fell open when he heard Peyton scream out the largest number and subsequently winning the auction. He remembered Brooke saying something to him about Peyton asking about Jake but had she really just spent over a hundred dollars for Jake? Did Peyton have any clue on what she was getting into? Nathan prayed that Peyton didn't hurt Jake as he watched Jake walk back towards the curtain and Luke take his spot not really wanting to be a part of the auction. Nathan chuckled as he saw Haley glare at and stare down any girl that even opened their mouths. Luke was back behind the curtain so fast Nathan wondered if he even went out there at all. "You're up lil bro." Luke taunted pretending to fix Nathan's hair. "Now go drive those girls crazy." Luke teased the relief of being done written all over his face. Nathan only smirked and stood behind the black curtain waiting for Whitey to announce him.

"And to draw this auction to a close I introduce Nathan Scott, the captain of the team and one of the leading scorers on the Raven's basketball team. We'll start the bidding at 5 dollars." Whitey announced as Nathan walked out unzipping his jacket a little bit as he walked down the runway. The words Boy Toy were written across his chest and as soon as his jacket was unzipped he tossed his jacket to Brooke who caught it with ease like they had planned it that way.

"5 dollars." Rachel called out earning a glare from Brooke and Haley.

"6 dollars." A random girl called out also earning a glare.

"12 dollars." Another girl called out, Nathan looked at Brooke wondering when she was going to start bidding.

"20 bucks." Rachel called out smirking at the other girls.

"21 dollars." The second girl called out. **'What the hell Brooke start bidding!' **Nathan thought in his head getting a little nervous.

"27 dollars." Rachel called out staring the other girl down almost making her back down.

"One hundred dollars." Brooke calmly called out daring Rachel with her eyes to try and beat her. Rachel glared and turned walking away from the group of girls who were trying to bet on Nathan.

"Going once, going twice sold to the lovely cheerleading captain in the red dress." Brooke smiled and Whitey swung the gavel ending the bidding on Nathan and Brooke casually smiled at Nathan as he walked back stage. "That concludes the Auction for tonight and I hope all you lovely ladies have fun with your dates for the night and remember let's keep it legal." Brooke and Haley walked out towards their cars to wait for their 'boy toys'.

"So how nervous are you?" Luke asked as Nathan changed out of his warm-up pants and jacket and back into his shorts and polo shirt.

"I'm not nervous dude."

"Nathan I know you, you're nervous." Luke replied leaning against the wall across from where Nathan was changing.

"I have nothing to be nervous about." Nathan countered pulling his polo over his head.

"So you're not nervous about your first kiss with Brooke?" Nathan looked around the room and motioned for Luke to follow them.

"I'm not nervous I just think it sucks that the first kiss we share she had to pay for."

"That technically makes you a whore." Nathan laughed and shoved Luke leaving the room and walking out towards the parking lot looking for Brooke, who was leaning against Nathan's car looking in Nathan's opinion extremely beautiful and breathtaking. "Close your mouth before flies get in." Luke whispered into his ear before patting Nathan's back and walking over towards Haley. The couple watched their friends before shaking their heads and getting in Luke's car leaving Nathan and Brooke by themselves.

"You look…." Nathan trailed off searching his brain for the right word to describe her outfit perfectly. "Beautiful." He finished instantly rewarded with Brooke's award winning butterfly inducing smile. Man how he loved that smile, how he loved the girl standing shyly in front of him.

"Thank you Nathan." She replied lightly kissing his cheek.

"So what is the plan for this fine evening?" Nathan asked opening her car door for him like he did every time they were together.

"Since I bought you I feel like you should plan what we do to thank me for saving you from the hoards of girls that wanted to buy you and use you." Nathan laughed and nodded silently agreeing with her, he did have to thank her. "So what are we going to do?" She asked a few moments later.

"We're going to the river court." She nodded confused as to why we would go there but drove to the river court no less. Nathan smiled when they pulled up to the river court when he saw Luke's basketball sitting in the middle of the court.

"What are we doing here?" Brooke asked as she parked the car and got out a little disappointed that this was all that Nathan could come up with them to do.

"We are going to play a little game."

"Alright, I'm up for a game. What's the game?" Brooke asked stopping short of Nathan in the middle of the river court.

"Horse."

"Are you serious Nathan?" Brooke asked a little upset that Nathan only wanted to play basketball, typical Nathan.

"With 20 questions of course." He added hoping to make her smile even a little bit and let out a silent sigh of relief when he saw the corners of her mouth turned upwards into a small smile, not the heart melting smile Nathan wanted but at least it was something.

"How do you play 20 questions with horse, it's only a five letter word." Brooke asked lightly setting her hands on her hips looking at Nathan for an answer.

"I make a basket I ask you a question, you make a basket you ask a question and if you miss a basket I get to ask a question I miss a basket you get to ask a question, understand?" Brooke's facial expression was as if a light bulb went off and Nathan couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped his lips. "So do you wanna play?" Brooke thought about it for a moment before nodding her head and taking the basketball from Nathan. Standing close to the basket Brooke took the form that Luke had taught her and shot the ball towards the basket it flew through the air but fell short and only hit the rim before flying back towards Nathan. Nathan smiled and put the ball under his arm.

"Alright we'll start out with a simple one, what's your favorite color?"

"Red." She simply replied with a hint of 'duh' in her voice, as if Nathan couldn't tell by the dress she was wearing. Nathan nodded and easily threw the ball towards the basket and easily went into the net. "Gee that's a shock." Brooke sarcastically remarked earning a laugh from Nathan.

"Why aren't you and Peyton friends anymore?" Brooke's mouth fell open as she turned to face Nathan completely speechless, how do they go from her favorite color to Peyton?

"We just grew apart." Nathan studied her for a moment wondering if he should push it or just let it go for now and noticing the look in Brooke's eye he decided to leave the question for now and handed Brooke the ball pointing to the spot she had to shot from. Nathan watched her take her spot and without even thinking about it Brooke threw the ball into the air and Nathan's mind started working figuring out what question to ask when he heard the 'swoosh' of the ball going through the net, she had made a basket! "Well seems like it's my turn, how come Mr. Hotshot doesn't have a girlfriend?"

"What do you mean?"

"You, Nathan Scott, are the captain of the basketball team and could have any girl you wanted yet you don't have a girlfriend why is that?" Brooke asked devoting her full attention to Nathan, who was now the one rendered speechless.

"Why don't you have a boyfriend?" He countered completely forgetting about their game of 20 questions and horse. Brooke looked down studying her red Jimmy Cho shoes.

"There is one guy but he doesn't see me the way I want him to." Brooke admitted looking into Nathan's eyes for a millisecond before falling back down to her red shoes. "So now why don't you have a girlfriend?"

"I haven't found the perfect way to ask her to my girlfriend but have no fear Nathan Scott won't be riding solo for much longer." Brooke's head snapped up and searched his eyes.

"Who is it?" Brooke asked wondering why in the course of their friendship she had never heard about this girl that seemed to have Nathan's heart. The disappointment and rejection instantly settled in her heart and she could feel tears pooling in her eyes not only because Nathan didn't reciprocate her feelings but that he didn't trust her enough to tell her the girl that he wanted to be with.

"Oh you know." Nathan replied not really catching the glassy wall of tears in her eyes. Brooke laughed a little bit and moved from the court to one of the picnic tables sitting on the edge of the court and sat on the top watching Nathan set the basketball down and walk towards her.

"Well she's stupid if she doesn't say yes to you." Brooke complimented smiling a little bit at the small blush that had spread across his face.

"I'm not all that special." Nathan replied sitting a few inches away from her.

"Any girl would be lucky to date you Nathan, trust me. In the past couple of weeks I've seen a completely different Nathan and I know that I even feel lucky to have you as one of my best friends so this girl would be a lucky girl to have you. You should've told me who she was so I could've helped her buy you so you could be spending the night with her not me." Nathan's head shot up to look at Brooke and it finally dawned on him, she didn't know he was talking about her. **'She thinks you're talking about someone else, how can she not see how I feel about her?'** Nathan thought as she looked everywhere but at him. He wanted to tell her right then and there make her understand that she was the girl he wanted to be his girlfriend but he had already planned the way to ask her and she was going to love it, he was sure of it.

"Actually I wanted to spend tonight with you Brooke, I love hanging out with you."

"Yeah but if you want to date this girl then you should be spending time with her and you."

"She can wait; I'm spending tonight with my number 1." Brooke laughed at Nathan's corniness and leaned her head on his shoulder relishing in the comfort and safe feeling she felt whenever Nathan's arms were around her but the feeling was bittersweet because Brooke now knew that Nathan didn't want her, he wanted another girl. Deciding to make the most of the time that she had with him now Brooke put all thoughts in the back of her head.

Nathan looked at the clock on his phone and suddenly became nervous it was getting close to midnight and they were going to have to share a kiss, a kiss that Brooke had to pay for. Nathan gently shook Brooke who had fallen asleep next to him on her couch since they had decided to come back from the river court a couple of hours later. "What time is it?"

"It's almost midnight." Nathan replied watching Brooke's eyes widen as she shook her head understanding what that meant.

"Ya know you don't have to actually go through with the kiss, it's not like anybody's gonna know or anything." Nathan shook his head and pressed his lips to Brookes his hands lightly holding her head in place. Brooke smiled and wrapped her hand around Nathan's neck deepening the kiss, neither had any intentions of pulling away until air became a desperate need but of course as soon as Nathan lost himself in the kiss both their phones started going off making the two jump apart both breathing heavily. Nathan picked up his phone first sighing when he saw it was Luke, who Nathan had decided was going to pay for ruining a moment that Nathan had only been thinking about for like the past month. Brooke wasn't surprised to see Haley's name flashing across the screen of her phone.

"Luke needs to talk so I'm going to go." Brooke nodded flipping her phone open but not putting the phone to her ear. Nathan gave in and lightly kissed Brooke's forehead. "I'll call you after I meet with Rachel for our project." Brooke nodded silently telling him that she would talk to him tomorrow after she met with Jake to work on their English project that both Brooke and Nathan were still a little angry about because they wanted to work together but Rachel had to throw a fit and their teacher made Nathan work with Rachel. Nathan gave Brooke one last look before walking out of the door and leaving Brooke to squeal and jump around.

"Uh Brooke?" Haley yelled grabbing Brooke's attention and reminding her that she was still on the phone. Brooke put the phone to her ear and proceeded to fill Haley in with the events of the night.

Nathan walked up the door to his house just as the sun was rising tired as hell, he had spent the entire night with Jake and Luke just hanging out and talking about their nights Nathan of course leaving out the mind blowing kiss he had shared with Brooke right before his phone went off. As Nathan put his key in the door a familiar pink envelope stuck in the door caught his attention.

_Nathan,_

_  
I don't need me a basketball player  
All I need is somebody that's down for me  
And he don't have to have money  
His love is just like honey  
Its so sweet to me  
He can have everything in this world  
But he'll sacrifice it all for me  
And I made up my mind  
I'm in love this time  
And it feels so real_

And I  
Know that he won't break my heart  
And I  
Know that we won't ever part  


_Its time, time for us to settle down  
And I  
Wanna be with him forever_

They can say that I am crazy  
For making him my baby  
But that's how it's gone be  
See I done been through many changes  
But this one I ain't changing  
It's gon' stay the same  
I can have everything in this world  
But I'll sacrifice it all for him  
And I made up my mind  
I'm in love this time  
And it feels so real

I love you  
And all of the things that you do  
Oh baby please  
I need you  
So believe me  
I do  
Cause I love you  
And every lil thing baby  
No  
They don't know how I feel  
Cause I know this is real

_-Secret Admirer_

Nathan smiled folding the letter and putting it back in the pink envelope opening the drawer in his dresser that held all the other notes that his secret admirer (Brooke) had given him and one glance at the calendar made Nathan smile, only 3 more weeks until hopefully Brooke and Nathan finally got together. Nathan threw his shirt off and slipped off his shoes before climbing into his bed and drifting off into sleep a huge smile spread across his face.

A/N: ANOTHER CHAPTER DONE! YAY! Finally Nathan and Brooke kiss but now how long will they take to get together? Or will something or someone get in the way of them being together? Stay tuned, new chapters soon to come! Brooke's poem is "And I" by Ciara.


	12. A Trip to Remember

Here it is its show time. It's finally the time for Nathan to make Brooke his girlfriend. He still had to find a way into getting her into going to New York with him and had yet to fill Luke in on the plan but all that mattered in 2 days Brooke would hopefully be his girlfriend. After calling Cooper and making the final arrangements Nathan was getting a little nervous, it's not like he's asking her to marry him or anything it's just a simple, 'hey be my girlfriend' thing nothing too serious. Pushing all nervousness out of his system Nathan got out of his car and walked up to Brooke's door.

It had been close to 2 weeks since the Boy Toy Auction and no mention of the kiss had happened, it was like Brooke didn't want to remember it and Nathan well he couldn't stop thinking about (which made him feel like a pre-teen girl). Knocking on Brooke's door Nathan felt his nerves flare again, he slid his hands into his pockets so Brooke wouldn't see them shaking and ask what was wrong. Finally Brooke opened the door and Nathan's jaw fell when he saw the tears in her eyes and running down her cheeks, this is not how he imagined her looking when he asked her to come to New York with him.

"What's wrong?" Nathan asked walking into the house and shutting the door behind him looking at Brooke as she walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. "Brooke."

"My mom called." Nathan nodded knowing how sad Brooke got after her mom called and pulled her into his arms holding her tightly against his body as she cried.

"I think I know a way to brighten your day." Nathan started completely scratching his original plan. Brooke lifted her head off his chest looking him in the eye wiping more tears from her eyes. "How about this weekend you join me on a trip to New York City?"

"What?" Brooke asked completely pulling away from Nathan looking at him like he was crazy.

"Cooper called me and asked if I wanted to join him in New York for his Gatorade meeting and I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity for us to get away for a little bit."

"Nathan," She started letting the rest of her sentence die from her lips she didn't really have an excuse not to go.

"I'm thinking about inviting Luke and Haley too." He added hoping that having Haley there would make Brooke jump at the chance. Brooke eyed him curiously thinking about it before smiling and nodding. She hugged Nathan and squealed, a weekend in New York with her best friends, what more could a girl want? "Good we're leaving Friday morning so start getting ready I'm going to talk to Luke so I'll see you later." Brooke nodded standing up and already beginning to make a list of what she needed in her head as she followed Nathan towards the door. "Remember it's only 4 days." Nathan stated turning towards Brooke eyeing her carefully. "And please remember who has to carry your bags." He whined sticking his bottom lip out for the better effect. Brooke laughed and hugged him kissing his cheek, the first time her lips have come in contact with any part of him since the kiss.

"I promise to make sure that my suitcases aren't too heavy for you." She cooed pinching his cheek for effect. Nathan laughed at how cheesy they were being and walked out the door smiling from ear to ear because he was half-way there. As Nathan pulled out her driveway he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders and that finally something was going his way for once. Nathan pulled up in front of Luke's house and got out walking to the side door not even bothering to knock which made Luke jumped from in front of his laptop and fall to the floor making Nathan laugh as Luke got up.

"Geez Nate, knock next time will ya?"

"Of course." Nathan sarcastically replied knowing full-blown well that he wasn't going to knock.

"What do you need, shouldn't you be making kissy faces at Brooke?"

"Well," Nathan started completely ignoring Luke's comment. "I'm going to ask Brooke to be my girlfriend."

"Okay and that pertains to me how?"

"I'm taking her to New York for the weekend and Haley and you are coming too."

"Huh?"

"I talked to Cooper and we devised a plan of the best way to ask Brooke to be my girlfriend, so we're meeting up with Cooper in New York City under the pretense that we're going to help him with his Gatorade flavor and he's giving the girls money to go shopping. But I really need you and Haley to come along so that it can be really special."

"It's like you're asking her to marry you." Luke joked dodging the fist flying at him.

"It's a special way for a special girl." Nathan replied a genuine smile on his face.

"Alright I'll talk to my mom and see what she says."

"Oh she already agreed like a week ago when Cooper called her."

"Seriously?"

"What can I say your mom loves me and I quote, 'anything to help you and Brooke finally get together is fine with me, just don't get arrested.'" Nathan quoted trying his best to sound like Karen, who was a proud team Brathan supporter. "So you have no excuse to not go."

"What if Haley doesn't want to go?"

"Are you kidding me? Don't you think I already talked to Haley about this?" Nathan asked looking at Luke challenging him to come up with another excuse.

"When did you talk to Haley?"

"The day I talked to Cooper, I had to make sure that Brooke would love it and according to Haley she will."

"I can't believe you talked to Haley before me." Luke whined like a little girl.

"Hello Haley is Brooke's best friend she knows what Brooke will like, duh!" Nathan replied lightly hitting Luke's forehead. "Geez for having such a smart girlfriend you're really dumb." Luke scoffed and hit Nathan lightly pushing him so he fell on Luke's bed.

"So when are we leaving?"

"Friday morning, we're spending the night at Cooper's on Thursday and then we're taking his private jet." Luke nodded and went back over to his laptop silently telling Nathan that he was going back to work. "So be ready to go Thursday because we're leaving right after school." Nathan reminded glad that they didn't have a game that week. Luke waved also silently telling Nathan that he didn't need to be reminded. Nathan shook his head at his brother and left heading back to his house and getting ready.

Thursday after school Nathan waited anxiously by his car waiting for Luke and Brooke to emerge from school so they could finally leave, Haley had arrived moments after Nathan had only smiled at him whispering to him that everything was going to be fine, Nathan hoped that everything went to fine. Finally Brooke and Luke came out school laughing at something as they walked towards Nathan car before Luke left Brooke and hugged Haley leaving Nathan and Brooke to stand there and watch them. **'You just wait Luke I'm gonna get you back for every single kiss and hug you've made me watch.'** Nathan thought grabbing Brooke's bag from her and throwing it in the back.

School could wait until they got back on Monday; this weekend was about having fun. Brooke smiled at Nathan, the smile that made all the nerves in Nathan's stomach disappear and the feeling of her trusting him completely washed over him sending him to cloud nine. **'Alright Nathan, you really need to stop acting like a girl, you are Nathan Scott not Natalie Scott so get a grip and be the man we all know you are.'** Nathan fought with himself for a moment before shaking his head and laughing at himself silently, he was definitely losing it.

It was after 7 when they finally arrived at Cooper's, who was sitting with Natasha in front of the fire pit he had in his back yard. "Hey Coop." Nathan called catching the attention of the couple who sprang apart and looked away like guilty teenagers which made Nathan and Brooke laugh.

"What took you guys so long we were getting worried?" Tasha asked finally walking over towards the four teenagers.

"You were really worried there Tash." Nathan joked earning a smack from Tasha who glared at him but smiled when Brooke also hit Nathan. "What was that for?" Nathan asked rubbing his arm where Brooke hit her, of course with the hand that had her rings on it.

"Be nice to her." Brooke warned smiling warmly at Tasha. "I'm Brooke Davis." Brooke introduced herself shaking Natasha's hand. "And this is Luke, Nathan's brother, and Haley Luke's girlfriend." Brooke replied pointing to Luke and Haley.

"Hey Luke, Haley I'm Natasha or Tasha Cooper's girlfriend."

"Wife." Nathan coughed smiling at Cooper who seemed to blush at that comment. Tasha just shook her head and finally hugged Nathan. Now Cooper was the one that hit Nathan.

"Shut up." He muttered under his breath as Tasha led Brooke, Luke, and Haley back into the house to get something to eat and set them up for the night. "You ready for this weekend?" Nathan nodded.

"I'm really nervous though." Cooper nodded knowing how nervous he was when he asked Tasha to be his girlfriend almost forever ago.

"When we get to the hotel and get checked in we'll head to the meeting and I'll give you the credit cards for the girls, tell them not to worry about spending too much this is my gift to you and Luke and remember to just have fun this weekend." Nathan nodded and the two joined the group inside.

The next morning Nathan was the first to wake up and was waiting downstairs for everyone else lost in his thought going over the plan again and again in his head when Brooke came down the stairs dressed for the flight in her cheer sweats and Nathan smiled when he saw her wearing his sweatshirt. "Good morning." She greeted kissing his cheek and taking his cup of coffee that he offered her. "Thank you for inviting me." She whispered after she had finished the rest of his coffee.

"I know how much you love fashion and I thought you would like to spend the weekend in New York and I knew you would have fun if Haley came along also." Brooke nodded.

"I would've had just as much with you as I would with her." Brooke admitted looking down at the tile floor beneath her.

"Then maybe I'll just have to steal you away from her for awhile, won't I?" Nathan asked looking at Brooke hopefully.

"I guess I could be kidnapped for a little while." Nathan smiled and wrapped his arms around her letting the feeling of her being in his arms wash over him. Brooke sighed in content and snuggled into Nathan's arms a little bit more content with staying there forever. She couldn't wait to spend some time alone with Nathan in New York, they had so much they had to talk about; like their kiss and Brooke was finally going to tell Nathan that she had been the one sending him all those notes.

Luke and Haley walked down the stairs and caught sight of Nathan and Brooke in the kitchen and decided to give them time alone since this weekend was all about Brooke and Nathan hopefully finally getting together. No one wanted to think about what would happen if Brooke said no and no one was going to think about it.

Finally they arrived in New York and checked into the hotel heading with Cooper to his meeting. Brooke had more fun at the meeting then Nathan did helping Cooper with the design of the label and even came up with the title of the flavor and now they were on their own, Luke and Haley going off to go sight-seeing and Cooper going to have dinner with Tasha leaving Brooke and Nathan by themselves.

"So Nate, what do you wanna do?" Brooke asked as they walked around Time Square taking in the sights.

"How about I take you shopping?" He asked grabbing her hand so he wouldn't lose her in the sea of people.

"Nathan you don't need to take me shopping, bringing me to New York was more than enough." She replied turning towards Nathan smiling at him.

"We're in New York and you don't want to go shopping, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"I don't have anything money to go shopping Nathan." She admitted looking at the ground sadly, truth was she was dying to go shopping in New York but knew that she could only go 'window shopping.'

"I might be able to help with that." He replied pulling a credit card out of his pocket and handing it to Brooke.

"Nathan, I can't accept this from you." She replied handing the car back to Nathan as they waited to cross the street.

"It's not from me; Cooper gave it me for you." Brooke looked at the card that Nathan held in front of her face. "Come on Brooke; let someone do something nice for you."

"You're always doing nice things for me Nathan." She replied now looking him in the eye.

"I like doing nice things for you." He admitted placing the card in her hands. "Now where do you want to go to first?" He asked not giving her the option to argue before pulling her across the street with the mass of people. After reaching the other side of the street Brooke decided to make the most of Nathan's offer and began pulling him down the street.

That evening Nathan and Brooke returned to their hotel room with mountains of bags of things that Brooke had bought, not all for her though, she bought a present for Haley and Luke for their birthdays and Christmas, and she even made Nathan get himself some things because she felt that he needed his wardrobe updated. She also bought a special present for him for Christmas in case they were together. Nathan set the bags down in between the two beds and turned towards Brooke who had stopped short of the first bed and was starring at Nathan. "Brooke?" He asked walking over towards her. "You okay?" Brooke shook her head and looked at Nathan finally registering that he was talking to her.

"Oh yeah I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yep, now what time are we meeting everybody for dinner?" Nathan looked at Brooke silent for a few moments trying to figure out if she was lying or telling the truth but soon gave up realizing that it wasn't really that important right now.

"7 I think." Brooke nodded going through the bags motioning with her hand for Nathan to go get in the shower since she was going to need some time to sort out what she was wearing tonight to dinner. Nathan shook his head and walked into the bathroom turning the shower on to hopefully calm down his ever growing nerves.

Nathan emerged from the shower and passed Brooke who pointed to his bed where his outfit laid out on the bed and she stopped to kiss his cheek to thank him for the millionth time that day for spending the day with her and taking her shopping. Nathan just smiled at her and continued towards the bed where his clothes were laid out and got dressed deciding to watch some TV while he waited for Brooke to finish getting ready so they could meet everybody else in the lobby. While Nathan sat on the bed waiting for Brooke to finish getting ready he came to the decision that he was going to ask her tonight, he didn't want to wait any longer he had to have her as his girlfriend one more day could quite possibly kill him.

Brooke stood in the bathroom her hands shaking with anticipation of what she was going to do tonight. Tonight she was going to tell Nathan about the notes and her feelings and if Nathan happened to not return her feelings at least she could say that she told him and that she had done everything she could. Finally getting frustrated with her shaking hands Brooke picked up her phone and called for Haley to help her.

Nathan got up from the bed when he heard a knock on the door, he checked his phone confused as to why someone would be knocking on their door when it was only 6:30, there's no way he got the time wrong is there? Shaking his head Nathan opened the door and smiled at Haley. "Hey Hales, what's up?"

"I came over to talk to Brooke."

"Oh she's in the bathroom getting ready."

"Thanks Nate, could you give us some alone time its important?" Haley asked not wanting Nathan to hear about Brooke's plan.

"Sure I'll be in your room just meet us in the lobby." Haley nodded and walked into the room and waiting till she heard the door close behind her before walking over to the bathroom.

"Hey Brooke, it's me." Brooke opened the door and smiled in relief.

"Thank you so much for coming over." She replied holding out her hands that were trembling so bad Haley was amazed she could dial the phone to call her.

"It's nothing sit there so I can finish helping you get ready. Why are you nervous Brooke, you know he has feelings for you."

"No Haley I don't. The night of the auction he told me about this girl that he liked and I got the feeling that he really liked this girl." Haley looked at Brooke and wanted to shake her, yell at her to open her eyes and look in the mirror and she would see the girl that Nathan was crazy about. "So I'm going to tell him tonight after dinner to get it over with."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Haley if I tell him now and he doesn't feel the same way at least I can walk away knowing that I told him."

"Well I think that you are just making things up because you don't think that Nathan could ever have romantic feelings for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Brooke I watch that kid go out of his way for you and if you don't think that he has some sort of feeling for you you're crazy."

"But he said that he liked another girl."

"How do you not know that he was just saying that so you didn't catch onto how he felt about you?" Haley challenged stepping away from Brooke and smiling at the finished product. "Now you're done and we should hurry and get downstairs." Brooke looked in the mirror and smiled at Haley hugging her before walking out of the bathroom. The girls linked arms as they walked out of the room and towards the elevators.

Nathan stood anxiously in the lobby waiting for Brooke and Haley fully aware of Luke and Cooper laughing at him as they watched him pace in front of them. "Nate calm down." Coop offered standing up and stopping Nathan in the middle of his pacing. Nathan looked up at him and moved so he could continue pacing.

Brooke stood anxiously in the elevator consistently smoothing imaginary wrinkles out of her dress and checking her reflection in the mirrored walls of the elevator. "Brooke stop." Haley commanded from her position towards the back of the elevator. Brooke stopped her hands and gripped her clutch with both hands now rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Before Haley could stop Brooke the doors open and Haley pulled Brooke along beside her.

Nathan looked up and smiled when he saw Brooke and Haley coming towards them. Haley stopped pulling Brooke and walked around Nathan going over to Luke and both turned towards the two watching them standing in front of each other as if they had never seen the other before. "You look amazing." Nathan whispered finally getting the courage to speak. Brooke blushed and looked down shyly crossing her legs and starring at her shoes. "We should go before they leave us here." Brooke nodded and grabbed Nathan's hand that he had extended to her and the two walked out of the hotel and into the limo where the others were waiting.

All through dinner Brooke and Nathan kept stealing glances at each other always smiling and blushing when they got caught. They were oblivious to the conversations going around them, all that mattered was looking at each other and getting lost in each other's eyes. Nathan lightly nudged Brooke with his foot, "Hey after dinner can I talk to you alone?" He whispered and Brooke nodded finally breaking the intense staring contest between them and joining in the conversations that were happening around them. Nathan on the other hand was now nervous as hell, he had so many thoughts running through his head he began to feel slightly sick. He didn't know what was going to happen if Brooke said no and honestly he didn't know how he was going to handle it if she said no.

Finally dinner ended and as the group walked out of the restaurant and towards the limo Nathan excused himself and Brooke grabbing her hand and leading her across the street towards Central Park, this was the perfect place for Nathan to ask Brooke to be his girlfriend. Brooke walked along side of Nathan taking in the scenery of Central Park. "Did you have fun tonight?" Nathan asked after they had been walking through the park for a few moments. Brooke turned and nodded shivering a little as a wind blew between them blowing her hair forward over her shoulders. Nathan stopped and pulled his jacket off sliding it over Brooke's creamy shoulders.

"Nathan I have something I want to tell you." Brooke confessed as they stopped in a secluded spot where they could have a few moments together alone. Nathan sat down on the bench next to Brooke and turned towards her waiting with bated breath as to what she had to say to him. "Do you remember when you showed me that note that you had gotten from a secret admirer?" She asked looking briefly at Nathan to see him nod urging her to continue. "Well those letters were from me. I sent you those letters in a way to tell you how I felt about you. I know it was probably lame but it was the only way I could think of letting you know without really having to put myself out there and risk getting rejected. I completely understand if you don't…" Her sentence died on her lips as Nathan gently placed his finger on her lips silencing her.

"Brooke," He started moving his finger once he knew she wouldn't interrupt. "I have to tell you that this trip to New York wasn't just about going to New York I wanted to bring you here and ask you to be my girlfriend. I'm in love with you Brooke and have been for quite some time now and you admitting that you were sending me those letters just makes me want you to be my girlfriend even more. So Brooke will you be my girlfriend?" Nathan asked looking Brooke in the eye for the first time since he began his impromptu speech. Brooke's eyes searched his eyes for a minute her mouth hanging slightly open. "Brooke?"

"But you said there was another girl the night of the auction." She whispered her eyes now glassy with tears.

"I was talking about you Brooke when I said that I was waiting for the perfect way to ask her I was talking about right now right here."

"What?" She asked completely caught off guard by what was happening. Nathan was not seriously asking her to be his girlfriend in the middle of Central Park was he?

"I love you Brooke." He repeated his hands lightly gripping her face forcing her to look at her. "I want to be with you." He added searching her eyes for something, any hint to what she was feeling.

"Nathan," She started in a tone that made Nathan's heart stop, she was going to turn him down, take his feelings and throw them back in his face maybe even laugh at him. "I thought you would never ask." She whispered after a few torturous moments had passed. Nathan's eyes went wide as it finally sank in that she said yes. Brooke smiled and rested her forehead against his as Nathan gently kissed her. The first kiss that surpassed any thought she had about their first kiss. Nathan stood up and pulled Brooke into his arms lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. "Took you long enough." She whispered as they stood Brooke finally in Nathan's arms after such a long time of dreaming about it.

"What can I say? That's just how I roll." Brooke blushed and swatted Nathan's chest. "What was that for?"

"Don't think that I didn't pick up on the egotistical undertones to that." Nathan laughed and kissed her forehead.

"I can't get anything passed you, can I?" Brooke shook her head and rested her head on Nathan's shoulder as they turned and began walking back towards the hotel; this was surely going to be a trip that Brooke would never forget.

A/N: FINALLY! BRATHAN IS FINALLY TOGETHER!!!!!!!! Now that they're together what can happen now? Don't worry I have much more in store for them and I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.


	13. My Apologies

Dear Readers,

I am so sorry that I have not been updating lately. I have just let school and work completely take over my life and right now I think I have a case of writer's block because I sat down today to actually write and I have nothing good. But don't worry I am going to work on it and hopefully have some updates for you guys in the next coming weeks, so please just bear with me for a little bit longer.


	14. The Strength of the Bond

**_A/N: OMG, I feel so bad for going this long without an update! I am so SORRY for dropping off the face of the earth like that. Well here's the next installment of It All Started With a Love Note!_**

* * *

Every relationship that Brooke Davis as had any part in has had that one moment where the strength of the bond is tested to make sure that the bond is as strong as she claimed it to be; with Peyton it was when her mom died, with Luke it was when he had joined the basketball team, with Haley it had been when she and Luke started dating, and with Nathan, well, that moment was the toughest test that Brooke had been put through to date.

Ever since Nathan had officially asked her to be his girlfriend Brooke has been waiting with bated breath for the moment that would throw their relationship through the ringer. She's been walking around ready at a moment's notice to show Nathan just how much he meant to her. She was ready for anything, but when the moment actually came she was unprepared.

It was the middle of the night when the phone rang waking Nathan and Brooke who had fallen asleep at the kitchen table while working on the homework. Both looked at each other silently trying to figure out whose phone was ringing when Nathan felt it against his leg. Instantly he pulled it from his pocket and pressed it to his ear the worry flooding his voice. Brooke watched silently as his dropped into his hand and the phone fell from his ear. Brooke reached out and caught the phone before it dropped to the floor and put it to her ear and began listening to a sobbing Natasha.

"We're on our way Natasha; we should be there by tomorrow afternoon. Do you need anything?" Brooke listened and nodded her head as she reached out and squeezed Nathan's hand. He looked up and she smiled down at him lacing their fingers together. "Alright we'll be there as soon as we can." Brooke hung up the phone and handed it back to Nathan before pulling him up from his chair and pulling him into her arms. "They say he's going to be okay Nathan, he didn't hit the wall that hard and it's only a few broken bones and he's in surgery to set the bones." Nathan pulled away and took a deep breath before completely pulling away and mumbling something about having to go. Brooke's hand shot out locking around Nathan's wrist. "I'm going with you." She told him walking in front of him and grabbing her car keys and bag pulling him behind her out of the house.

The entire car ride to the hospital where Cooper was staying was quiet, the only sound to be barely heard from within the car was the soft sound of whatever Top 40 hit was playing on the radio. Both Brooke and Nathan were too wrapped up in their own thoughts to actually say anything to the other. Brooke shot a quick glance over at Nathan, who was staring out the window his face giving away what thoughts were running through his mind. She sighed knowing that by the look at Nate's face there was no way that he was going to let her into his head, she would most likely hit the 'I'm fine don't worry about me' brick wall that he had quickly built. Turning back towards the road Brooke braced herself for the hardest moment of their relationship.

They arrived at the hospital in the afternoon and without a word Brooke pulled up to the entrance to drop Nathan off. He looked at her but she stared straight ahead afraid to show Nathan just how much his silence and distance was hurting her. This wasn't the time to throw it on him; he had enough to deal with that he didn't need her throwing more on him. She waited until he was in the doors before she drove towards the parking garage. As she made her way to the lobby of the hospital Brooke prepared herself for the distance and cold shoulder she was going to receive from Nathan.

Brooke walked into the lobby and saw Natasha talking to Nathan and stopped letting them have space. She watched as Nathan hugged Tasha before pulling away and walking towards what Brooke assumed was where Cooper's room was. Brooke took this moment and walked up to Tasha giving the distraught blond a hug. "Do you need anything?" She asked a moment later.

"Not right now." She replied motioning towards the chairs to their right. Brooke followed and sat down turning towards Tasha, ready to comfort whenever Tasha needed it.

"What happened?" Brooke asked reaching forward and grabbing her hand, giving her the comfort that Brooke thought she would be giving to Nathan in this moment.

Nathan sat next to Cooper's bed letting out a huge sigh of relief as Cooper's eyes slowly opened. "Hey." Cooper whispered still too out of it to actually speak.

"Hey Cooper, I'm really glad you're okay." Cooper merely nodded before looking around the room looking for something or someone. When he didn't find what he was looking for he looked back at Nathan with a confused look.

"Brooke?" He managed to ask as more of the haziness cleared from his mind.

"She's out in the lobby with Tasha I think. What happened?" Nathan asked his attention still focused on what had happened the day before that ended in Cooper having surgery and Tasha calling him in tears in the middle of the night. Cooper took a deep breath and sat up to take a drink of water before launching into his story.

Brooke squeezed Tasha's hand as she finished telling Brooke about Cooper's crash during his race yesterday. "But he's okay now, right? Isn't that what the doctors told you? I bet you he's already awake in the room and regaling Nathan with the story of the epic race yesterday." Tasha looked at Brooke with unshed tears in her brown eyes and Brooke knows that even if Cooper is wide awake she's still scared.

"I don't know how Nathan's handling it so well." Tasha remarked starring off in the direction of Cooper's room and Brooke's not sure if she's supposed to answer or not.

"Your guess would be as good as mine." She replied a few moments later starring at her hands that feeling of distance creeping into her heart again. "You should go check on Cooper, he'd probably be really happy to see you." Tasha nodded and stood up taking a few steps towards his room before stopping and turning back towards Brooke.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked almost shocked that Brooke wasn't behind her.

"I'll come in a bit later; I wanna give you and Nathan some time." She smiled to reassure Tasha and waited until she couldn't see her retreating back before slumping in her chair and sighing glancing at the time.

Nathan listened as Cooper told him what had happened during the race with full attention shocked that something so horrible had happened to Cooper. It was hard to believe that such a seasoned driver as he could have ended up in such a fiery crash, yet walk away with only broken bones and scratches. Tasha walked in and immediately Cooper's face lit up in relief that she was still there after what had happened the day before. Nathan laughed quietly and shook his head at his uncle's behavior. "Where's Brooke?" Nathan asked looking behind Tasha wondering where Brooke was. Tasha looked at Nathan with an unreadable expression on her face.

"She said something about waiting out in the lobby, wanting you and me to have some time together with Cooper first. I don't know it was really weird." She replied her attention focused fully on Cooper. Nathan laughed a little again before getting up and making his way out of the room giving the couple some much needed time alone. Moments later when he found Brooke he sighed as he sat in the seat next to her.

"You shouldn't be sitting out here by yourself." He said as she lifted her head to look at him.

"I just wanted to give you and Tasha time with him, he's important to you guys and I was right here if needed." Nathan turned towards her the meaning behind her words hitting him hard in the face.

"Brooke, you shouldn't be out here by yourself. You should be in there with us, you're important to him now, you know that right?" She tilted her head confused as to what Nathan was saying to her. "You're important to me; I can't begin to tell you how much you mean to me. I know that after I found out about Cooper I became more like broody but I wouldn't trade you being here for anything." Brooke softly smiled and leaned forward resting her forehead against Nathan's.

"You know when I thought about this moment I didn't think it would ever happen like this." She shyly admitted lightly cupping Nathan's cheek.

"What are you talking about?" Nathan asked confused.

"You know that moment when the strength of the bond is tested? That moment when you realize just how much a person means to you? Do you have any idea about what I'm talking about?" She asked laughing quietly when he shook his head no. "Of course not, you're a guy. But anyway there's always a moment in a relationship/friendship when the strength of the bond you share is tested, when you learn just how strong you are together. This is that moment Nathan; this is the moment when the strength of our bond is tested."

"How'd we do?" Nathan joked smiling as he momentarily forgot about the reason that had brought on this conversation and focused on his better half sitting in front of him.

"Better than I could have ever imagined." Nathan leaned over and kissed her softly his worries about Cooper immediately calmed by her lips pressing back against his. "Now come on, we should probably go make sure that Cooper isn't talking the doctors into letting him out early." Nathan nodded and stood up grabbing Brooke's hand in his own letting the feeling sink in, there was nothing that could ever pull them apart, their bond was just too strong to break so easily.

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**_A/N 2: I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but it's better than the previous three drafts I've written. I'm not going to make my usual promises about updating sooner but just promise to make an effort. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned to the next installment!_**


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